Word to the wise, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If someone you don't know sends you a "deal", it's probably a scam. The FBI says that they've received nearly 800,000 complaints in 2020 that were suspected Internet crime.

Jeanette Harper, an FBI Special Agent based in El Paso said:

One of the most popular social media accounts we see reports 116,00 hacks a day. It is very prominent, it is easy to do as far as cyber-hackers because they train and have developed very sophisticated techniques.

The uptick in Internet scams can almost be directly linked to people spending more time at home during the pandemic. We know about these types of scams here at the station. All you have to do is notice someone has started a bogus Instagram account using Veronica's photo. CLICK HERE for her article on that.

There are certain things you can do to keep yourself protected, like:

  • Don't click email links from people you don't know
  • Don't provide your password to anyone, ever
  • Don't give information, like your social security number, without confirming the source is known
  • And don't do what Abel Rodriquez did. CLICK HERE to see that story. He not only bought a gift card and gave the information to the hackers, he also provided them with his social security number because they told him the prize he won was worth more than $600 and they needed that info for tax purposes.

If you want to report a possible Internet scam, you can head to the FBI's site by CLICKING HERE.

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