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TIP OF THE DAY
When looking online for information about Official US Government programs like Social Security and Medicare, look for the official banner at the top of the page stating, “An official website of the United States government”. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States and a secure .gov websites uses HTTPS, a lock or https:// this means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
MEDICARE OPEN ENROLLMENT STARTS OCTOBER 15TH .
Lots of scams occur at this time of year. MEDICARE IS NOT GOING TO CALL YOU! Make your own phone calls. Be careful to contact Medicare directly at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), visit the Official Website, https://www.medicare.gov/ or a local insurance agent, preferably one with an office.
EMAIL HACKED
A resident reports he’d been assisting a neighbor who recently lost his wife. The resident received a scam email from this neighbor’s email address indicating he’d had knee surgery and needed some things from the pharmacy, including a $100 Apple gift card as a thank you for his doctor. Luckily, his spouse alerted him to the possibility of a scam and contacted the neighbor’s daughter. The daughter confirmed that the email had been hacked. Although the resident did not purchase the gift card, he did make the mistake of telling the scammer the dates they would be out of town on vacation. After making an online incident report to the Alerts Team, he was advised to immediately change the password on his email account, tell his neighbors when they would be out of town and request a vacation check by Lincoln Police. They also followed the rest of the suggestions in NW flyer Security Tips for A Worry-Free Vacation.
BOGUS GEEK SQUAD WEBSITE
A resident (who has a contract with Geek Squad) did an internet search for the Geek Squad and found a website with a phone number. Although the screen looked perfect, it was not the Geek Squad. A “technician” was immediately able to access his computer. He had provided no information up till then. They spent the next hour clicking this and that to “fix” the problem. The scammer said they were entitled to a $149 refund because the protections failed. The resident asked to have it mailed to him. The resident has indicated that he has no financial information on his computer. The scammer provided name, phone number, employee ID and incident number. When the resident called the Geek Squad in Roseville, they said it was a scammer. The Geek Squad said it was best to look on the service agreement, but if you make an internet search, it should be for “Best Buy Geek Squad.” When the real Geek Squad came out, he did not find any virus or trackers on the resident’s computer.