(CMR) In what is now the norm and a regular occurrence another scammer is attempting to target persons in the Cayman Islands by pretending to be the Cayman Islands Government.
It's a regular occurrence for scammers to pretend to be government officials via social media and entice persons with money via the alleged government. However, this latest scams alleges to come from the government itself on “official” letterhead and claims that the person owes land taxes for property owned.
Nicolas Da'Costa first alerted CMR several days ago that he received the fake email and thought it may have been convincing enough to fool some persons.
Yesterday, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service issued a statement indicating that they were also aware of the fake e-mails and were urging the public to continue to be vigilant. Police noted the e-mails target business owners and others, and request payments which claim to be “taxes levied by the government”.
“Members of the public are advised not to open such mails. Do not click on any links or pay any money through this email address,”
stated the release.
The police are currently investigating this matter with a view to identifying the perpetrators.
CMR always recommends the following tips to ascertain if an email is fake:
TIP: In the current email being circulated if you expose the email address that it's coming from my simply clicking on it you will see that it is NOT a legit email address at all.
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Incorrect URL. Hackers use fake sites to steal your information. Watch to make sure the URL is actually the one you want to be going to— if you notice the URL is different, that’s a good indication that the site is fake and you should NOT enter your information. There’s a number of ways you can protect yourself from this:
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If you’re on a computer, hover your mouse over the link to see a preview of the link URL in the status bar. Then check to see if the linked site matches the site that it should be from. So for example, if your email comes from North Bank or you type in North Bank into the Google search bar and the link is not going to www.northbank.com but something like www.banking-north.com you should not click.
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If you’re on a mobile device, use a link preview to see the actual URL before you click.
Nosy Requests. Your bank won’t ask via email for your PINs or card information. Be suspicious of sites (or emails) requesting your Social Security number, identification number or other sensitive information.
Sender’s Email Address. You can also check who sent the email by looking at the sending address. It may say it’s from North Bank, but the email may be something strange like [email protected]. The sender’s email should not be using a public Internet account like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.
Your Name. A legitimate email from your bank or business will address you by name rather than as “Valued Customer” (or something similar).
Typos. Misspellings or grammatical errors are another sure sign that the message or site is fake.
Fake Password. If you’re at a fake site and type in a phony password, a fake site is likely to accept it.
Low-Resolution Images. A tip-off to a false site is the poor image quality of the company’s logo or other graphics.
PHOTO: Another scammer was attempted to scam a local person by pretending to be Cayman Brac representative and government Minister Julianna O'Connor-Connolly
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