How to Get Through April Fool's Day Without Falling for Cyber Scams

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For most of us, April Fool’s Day is a fun day of harmless jokes and “gotcha” moments. However, scammers are playing pranks year-round, trying to trick you out of your personal information and money. These crooks unleash their brand of trickery through phishing scams via emails, texts, voicemails, and calls. The damage these tricks played on you can be devastating and sometimes can take years to recover from. 99% of cyber crime requires human interaction to work. Building your personal firewall is the best way to keep yourself safe this April Fool's and beyond. Here's what you need to know.

Most of you probably think cyber crooks are crafty enough to break into your devices, but the truth is every tech device you own at home or work is protected from an actual hack. With the amount of protection on our devices, such as VPNs, firewalls, passwords, 2-factor authentication,n and anti-virus software, it's virtually impossible for a scammer to hack into your devices and online accounts. Criminals know this, so they turn to AI-based socially engineered attacks in the form of phishing to trick you into letting them log into your devices and online accounts. Stick to these easy tips and tricks for prank-free April Fools.

• Build your human firewall. Cyber crime is a human problem, which means it's up to you to stay vigilant and learn how to spot phishing emails. This also means not clicking links or downloading attachments that you receive from people you don't know. Also, ignore requests in the form or text messages and emails for sensitive info such as PINs, credit card numbers, SSNs, and other personal credentials. Maintain rigorous cyber hygiene by keeping your devices up to date, using your privacy settings, enabling 2FA on your accounts, and never oversharing personal information on social media. Get out of the practice of using passwords and switch to using passphrases or passkeys to protect your online accounts.

• Watch out for impostor scams. Criminals will attempt to contact you via phone calls and pretend to be an employee of your bank, a debt collector, a law enforcement officer, an IRS agent, or a tech support from a known software or hardware service provider. If someone calls to threaten you, ask for personal info, or advises you to install remote access software on your device, hang up immediately.

• Be aware of click-bait news articles, links, and photos on social media. AI-created deepfake videos and audio recordings are everywhere on social media and online. They look and sound very realistic. Criminals spreading fake news and deepfake media can be used to conduct investment scams to trick you into investing your money.

• Don’t reuse passwords and passphrases. If you have a problem remembering your online login credentials, use a password manager. The easiest method is to use the password managers built into your favorite web browser.

• Beware when using online dating services. If you use a dating app don’t overshare, send sensitive videos or photos, transfer money, or start “investing” in crypto.

• Watch out for social media scammers. If you're one of the unfortunate people who lose access to your social media account, beware of scammers who will message you claiming they can get your account back.

• Stop giving out your smartphone number. In today's digital age, you should only share your mobile number with close family and friends. For the rest of the world, you need to setup a Google Voice or WhatsApp number and share that instead.

• Be careful what you share with your favorite AI chatbot. While it might be tempting to share personal information about yourself with your favorite chatbot, understand that many AI chatbots are gathering your personal information and sharing it with third-party companies. With memory mode included with AI tools, only share information about yourself that doesn't give too many details about your personal life.

Hopefully, this will give you tips to help you stay safe and not get fooled by trickster cyber crooks. By staying informed and taking these precautions, you can significantly reduce your risk of falling victim to online scams. If you have any questions, please reach out. I'm always available.

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