A new FBI report shows that scammers and cybercriminals stole some $16.6 billion from Americans last year.
Eric Brown of Tennessee Tech’s Cybersecurity Education Research and Outreach Center said scammers often play off human greed or urgency. In other words, Brown said they trick people into giving up their information.
“If you do not take this action immediatley, something bad is going to happen,” Brown said. “So that I can get someone to make an irrational decision that they would not normally make, had they had time to think through, ‘well, this doesn’t seem right.'”
Brown said most cybercriminals are financially motivated, and any information like passwords, birthdays, and addresses can be used. Brown said scammers can use details from receipts left at an ATM or information posted online.
“Let’s be real, we have a couple of generations now who have been brought up to live their life in social media,” Brown said. “So it’s not very hard to gather that information. And then I can build a profile. And once I build that profile, I can use that information to impersonate or even guess enough information to get into an email account, an Amazon account, a bank account, or whatever else.”
Brown said protecting yourself is important, even in small towns or rural areas.
“We use technology whether we plan on it or not,” Brown said. “So in the Upper Cumberland, we’re using [technology] here like everybody else to do our day-to-day living, so we have to be aware.”
Brown said although anyone can be a victim of cyber crime, there are ways to stay protected, like using good passwords and avoiding untrustworthy websites.
