Message from Mayor Armstead

Hi Fellow Linden Residents, 

As you may know, many business and residential utility customers are targeted daily by impersonation scams. Scammers impersonate the utility company (such as PSE&G, Comcast, Verizon, NJ American Water and others) through in-person, phone, and online tactics, claim the utility bill is past due, and threaten to disconnect services unless a payment is made immediately. Customers are pressured to make payments via prepaid debit cards (such as Green Dot, MoneyPak, or Vanilla), wire transfers, cash apps (such as Venmo or Zelle), gift cards, or cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin). Additionally, scammers may claim that the regular payment portal for the utility company is currently offline, but the target can submit payment through another portal via a link or QR code. This fraudulent payment portal creates a false sense of legitimacy by using spoofed domains, impersonation, and stolen branding. Phishing and smishing tactics attempt to convince the target to immediately take action, such as responding or calling a fraudulent phone number, disclosing sensitive information, or making payment. 

In Person

Scammers may visit the target’s home or place of business in person, claim to be a utility company collector, present fraudulent identification, and ask for personal information, including account number or Social Security number. However, legitimate employees wear a uniform, visibly display a company ID badge, drive a company car with the utility company’s logo, and visit during a pre-scheduled appointment with the customer. 

Calls

Additionally, if customers receive an urgent call from their utility company’s trusted customer service number claiming termination of services for non-payment and that someone will arrive in 15 minutes to disconnect service, slow down the conversation before making any quick decisions and verify the information through official sources, as the phone number may be spoofed (faked)!

Web Searches

Hackers are targeting customers who use search engines to contact their utility companies. The search engine results may contain fraudulent websites with fake phone numbers that, if called, will put unsuspecting customers at risk for threat actors to collect personal and financial information. Furthermore, service disconnections are not immediate; there is a multi-step process, including payment arrangement options and multiple notifications to the customer, typically by mail and noted on their regular monthly bill.

QR Codes

Traditional attack techniques of malicious links or attachments are often detected by email security, forcing threat actors to pivot to QR codes as the primary attack method in various schemes. QR codes, sent through unsolicited communications or posted in publicly accessible locations, may appear to be associated with a reputable brand or organization and could direct targets to phishing websites, fraudulent payment portals, and unsuspecting malware downloads. In one campaign, the threat actors persuade their victims to withdraw money from their financial accounts and transfer it to them using a QR code and cryptocurrency ATM to avoid service disconnection. Once the funds are deposited into the ATM to purchase cryptocurrency, the QR code with the embedded address is scanned, and the money is transferred to the scammers.

Please make sure to be vigilant of these and similar impersonation scams. Refrain from answering unsolicited or unexpected communications, especially those containing QR codes. Additionally, do not provide personal or financial information or transfer money, especially in cryptocurrency, to unverified entities. If you need help with this or another type of scam, please call my office at (908) 474 8493 so that I can help. 

– Mayor Derek Armstead

Many users connect to the internet and access multiple accounts and services for business, including email platforms, applications, and vendor websites. The increased use of online accounts and services, combined with users engaging in risky password management practices, puts both themselves and their employers at risk of account compromise and data breaches. Therefore, it is important to practice good password hygiene to protect accounts and data.

Strong, unique passwords for each account help prevent password reuse attacks in which threat actors obtain the password for one account and use it to compromise an additional account using the same credentials. Threat actors succeed when users reuse credentials across multiple accounts, use easy-to-guess or simple passwords, and do not enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). Strong, unique passwords help secure information, networks, servers, devices, accounts, databases, files, and more against cyberattacks.

Password managers are an effective method to assist users in creating strong, unique passwords and storing them securely. These accounts should be secured with unique and complex master passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) using an authentication app or hardware token. Password managers contain sensitive data and, therefore, require implementing the strongest possible security measures. Users are encouraged to research password manager providers thoroughly prior to use.

According to reports received by the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network, scammers are leveraging social media platforms to generate substantial profits. New data released by the FTC reveals that scams originating on social media have resulted in $2.7 billion in reported losses since 2021, surpassing all other contact methods.

Social media gives scammers an unprecedented advantage at little to no expense, reaching billions of users worldwide. They can easily create a fake persona, hack into profiles, pretend to be the user to deceive contacts, and spread misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Scammers learn to tailor their approach to what users share on social media. Furthermore, scammers may place ads using tools available to advertisers, systematically targeting users based on personal details like age, interests, or past purchases.

In the first half of 2023, social media was the contact method for over 38 percent of fraud cases reported by people aged 20-29.  For people aged 18-19, that figure was 47 percent. The numbers decrease with age, consistent with generational differences in social media use. Data indicates that, while online shopping scams have the highest number of cases, the most significant monetary losses are due to scams that promote fraudulent investment opportunities via social media. More than half of the money lost to social media fraud resulted from investment scams. Additionally, there has been an increase in romance and investment scams, commonly referred to as “pig butchering.” These scammers often advertise their fake investment successes and try to entice users to invest in fake websites and apps.

Social media users should set stringent security settings for social media accounts and critically evaluate sources of information consumed, seeking reliable and verified information. Verify information before sharing posts, clicking links, or promoting the post’s content, including familiar and shared contacts. Bait-and-switch posts often originate from pages that are not associated with a specific individual, have comments turned off, and are relatively vague in the descriptions used in the post.