Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

You can tell if someone is scamming you online if they make grammatical or spelling errors, create a sense of urgency, ask you for personal information, offer you something that’s too good to be true or reach out to you unexpectedly. Read the following signs that someone is scamming you online, learn about the most common online scams to watch out for and note our tips on how to protect yourself from becoming a victim.

Many of us spend a significant amount of time online working, socialising, consuming entertainment and purchasing in online stores, among other activities. This extensive online presence has made the internet a prime target for scammers who prey on unsuspecting individuals. Over time, these scams have become increasingly sophisticated, with fraudsters developing more convincing schemes that people are likely to fall for.

A Quick Response (QR) code is made up of black and white pixels, designed for someone to scan with their camera to access links, contact information and more. Some common QR code scams you should be aware of include QR codes on parking meters, unexpected package deliveries, phishing emails, restaurant menus or unsolicited text messages. One study in October 2023 found that 22% of worldwide phishing attacks used QR codes to spread malware.

A company’s success depends on its employees’ quality, motivation, and honesty. Unmotivated employees who feel neglected and under-appreciated may not hesitate to deceive their employer for their own personal benefit. This type of fraud is known as occupational fraud, and it’s a growing concern for business leaders. So, how can employers detect and prevent this type of fraud from happening?

Read also: The UK shuts down the Russian Coms fraud service, ten people arrested for a major SIM swap scam, and more.

Cybercriminals are notorious for their opportunism. No situation is off limits: whether they exploit conflict and human suffering, blackmail vulnerable individuals by threatening to leak therapy notes, or even bring healthcare organizations to their knees, cybercriminals will stop at nothing to make a quick buck. Hurricane season is a particularly lucrative time of year for cybercriminals.

Some common Venmo business account scams include fake payment invoice scams, overpayment scams, fraudulent Venmo support, business impersonation scams and phishing scams. If you are unfamiliar with Venmo, it is a mobile app used to send and receive money, similar to PayPal, Zelle or Cash App. If you already have a personal profile on Venmo, you can create a business profile to keep track of your transactions and give you more payment methods, including the option to receive tips.

The use of the Microsoft brand in phishing attacks demonstrates both its widespread credibility as well as the continued success of attacks leveraging it. Each quarter, security vendor Check Point builds its’ Brand Phishing Ranking, identifying the top ten impersonated brands used in phishing attacks. And, while we’ve seen Microsoft at the top of this quite a few times before in their previous rankings, it’s the growth we see in their latest report covering Q2.

New data on how the threat of AI in cyber crime is being seen as a growing risk provides insight into how organizations are shifting from reaction to prevention. According to endpoint security vendor Deep Instinct’s Voice of SecOps report, 97% of organizations are concerned they will suffer a security incident as a result of adversarial AI. The advent of new malicious LLM-based AI platforms are allowing cybercriminals to get their hands on sophisticated tech and create convincing deepfakes.

Your college years are supposed to be the prime years of your life, not the time to be tricked by scammers. Learn how to spot these scams and protect yourself.