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Rotary presentation tackles scamming trends in 2020

Wed, 09/23/2020 - 5:00 am
  • Rotary presentation tackles scamming trends in 2020  
    The Breckenridge Rotary Club received a special presentation from Kasey Ragle, Vice President of the Information Technology (IT), and customer service of First National Bank. Ragel provided the club with tips on preventing scams. Photo by A.D. Chachere

The Breckenridge Rotary Club received an informative presentation from Kasey Ragle, Vice President of the Information Technology (IT), and customer service from First National Bank on potential scamming trends.

The presentation comes after Attorney General Ken Paxton warned Texans about scammers sending text messages that include a false package delivery notice and a fraudulent link.

“The number one way of committing cyber fraud is a phishing email,” Ragle said. “This occurs when you get an email request from someone you know and you think it’s that person. They ask for credentials or to download a file, or send an invoice. Malicious codes are inserted or a virus is downloaded to the computer and that is the number one way of cyber fraud.”

Ragle mentioned 14 different ways, such as a Nigerians Prince scam, greeting or holiday card scams, and iTunes/Walmart gift card scams.

“The FBI has a department to report frauds, it’s called IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center, “Ragel said. “In the last five years, there have been 1.7 million complaints to a total of 10.2 billion dollars in the United States in fraud. In 2019 alone, there were 3.5 billion dollars in total losses.”

The amount is expected to double as individuals are working from home due to the COVID-19 virus.

“These things happen on a daily,” Ragel said. “Be diligent when online and if you have questions, stop and call someone to provide insight, please don’t continue to click.”