GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's not that you're not smart.You are. But even smart people get fooled --why?
Sometimes it's the fake information comes in a rush....
Or it plays to our emotions...
Or the bad guy disguises himself as someone you know
Whatever it is, it can make any of us smart people feel stupid. Which is what the scammers want.
So, how do we change this? We talk about it. In fact, I talked to a viewer about it for 20 minutes last night.
It starts with Facebook.
One of her friends messaged her and they chatted a bit.
And then a few days later, the friend told her about a grant she got and that the viewer could get it too. All she had to do is pay a fee to get the money.
Unfortunately, this is all too common.
“Anybody can be faceless and anybody can be anonymous. You can be whatever you want to be when you are online.” Cyber security expert Andy King has seen this scam play out on his own Facebook page.
“At first he thought he was talking to a friend too. I thought it was him… and then the minute he said I can get you $800,000, I was like oh ok, this dude is scamming.”
Always remember this-- no one is going to give you free money. And anytime you have to pay taxes upfront, a fee of some sort, shipping costs-- it's never real. It's always a scam.