Scammers will not stop. They will keep on evolving and adjusting their strategy every day, especially if it involves the Socail Security system.
"I received this email (displayed below) yesterday. I did not open the attachment. I hovered my mouse over the name of the Sender and immediately saw it as a lie," Jeanne from Hackensack, New Jersey, said after she forwarded a new scame to warn everyone.
This vigilant approach by Jeanne demonstrates the importance of being cautious and skeptical when dealing with unsolicited emails, especially those claiming to be from official sources.
A phishing scam is when a person or group pretends to be an established organization, such as a governmental agency, financial institution or legitimate company. The scammer uses what looks like a legitimate email address and usually attaches what looks like an official invoice or letter.
They usually approach with a sense of urgency. In this instance, her Social Security number was compromised. The desired outcome is to get you to open the attachment, which can download a virus or malware onto your device or reach out to them to get your personal information, in this case, over the phone. Luckily, Jeanne knew better, did not open the attachment and reported it to the governmental agency being impersonated.
When someone spots a scam like this, they should mark the email as junk or spam so that the email service provider will learn to flag such emails. This should also make it harder to open the attachments accidentally.
Jeanne smartly did not open the attached letter. She hovered her cursor over the attachment and saw it was suspicious. Remember, opening attachments or links from a scammer can download viruses or malware to your device. It can also take you to another website that can glean more of your personal information or release viruses or malware.