The state Department of Consumer Protection is warning the public to watch out for scams following the global IT outage that is affecting industries around the world on Friday.
“Scammers follow the news specifically to take advantage of situations like the software problem many are dealing with today,” Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli said in a statement. “Scammers know many people are waiting for direction and assistance from their Information Technology teams today, creating a prime opportunity to send phishing links, impersonate IT teams, and gain access to sensitive information. It is important to remain vigilant and be wary of anything that seems suspicious in order to prevent this outage from causing even more problems.”
The department warned that you might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from someone you’re expecting to hear from today – like your IT team or customer support representatives from CrowdStrike or Microsoft.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
What to look for
Look for the most common signs it might be a scam:
- The email address the message came from isn’t correct or looks suspicious. It may have a different suffix, or extra numbers or letters added.
- The email is generic, contains typos or language that doesn’t make sense. Watch out for messages that don’t sound like the ones you normally receive from your IT department.
- The email contains links to unknown websites. Hover over any links with your mouse prior to clicking on them. If you don’t recognize the web address, don’t click on it.
- The message instructs you to provide a password, or other personal or financial information. It is unlikely your IT department will ask for this information. If you’re not sure, call or send an email to the contact information you know is correct to ask if the email is legitimate.
- If you received a phishing email or text message, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The information you give helps fight scammers.
- If you got a phishing email, forward it to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org.
- If you got a phishing text message, forward it to SPAM (7726).
