As Southeast Texans work to recover from Hurricane Beryl, there are people out there looking to take advantage of those desperate for help.
Cybersecurity Analyst II Raenesia Jones says she’s seen an uptick in cyber scams targeting people who are simply trying to get back on their feet.
Jones says the main way opportunists are targeting their victims is through text messages and email, impersonating government or charitable organizations. She says if you pay attention, there are ways to spot what’s real and what’s fake.
“During tough times like this people are vulnerable,” Jones said. “We’re seeing people use what we call legit infrastructure… which are services that we use every day—WhatsApp, Cash App, even social media platforms messaging individuals.”
Jones says the criminals are seeking personal data, like social security numbers and dates of birth.
“As well as gaining access to their email accounts, bank accounts and other financial information,” she added.
In many cases, Jones says the fraudsters pretend to be legitimate government entities, like FEMA.
“One of the things that the government has made pretty clear is that they don’t charge to receive assistance, so if you’ve been approached by someone who says they can help you submit an application in exchange for money, be very skeptical about that,” she said.
According to cyber security company, Palo Alto Networks, you may get a link that, when clicked, looks like an official government website but is instead an attempt to get you to give up your private info.
“If that URL doesn’t end in a ‘.gov’ website, there’s probably a chance that it’s not an official government website,” Jones said.
She says pay close attention because threat actors have gotten craftier at impersonating government web pages
“By including things like ‘.gov’ and then ‘.xyz’ at the end of that,” Jones said.
Some of these fake sites may even appear at the top of search engine results. Jones says check for typos and wrong punctuations as red flags.
When in doubt, she advises you clear your browser. Go directly to the entity’s website that can often be cross referenced by calling it after reverse searching the number provided and looking up information on their social media pages.
The federal government does not take these scams lightly if you think you’ve been targeted by FEMA fraud call 1-866-223-0814 or email StopFEMAFraud@fema.dhs.gov
You can also report cyber scams by visiting ic3.gov