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FTC wants to help small businesses spot cyber scams

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If you’re a small business owner receiving Facebook messages about a business grant you’ve won, you might be the target of a cyber scam—and the Federal Trade Commission wants to make sure you don’t fall victim.

FTC this week launched a new site designed to help small businesses protect themselves from cyberattack. They’re often easy targets, especially because they don’t have the financial resources larger organizations do to constantly monitor their networks, according to FTC.

The Facebook scam, in which criminals posed as a recipient’s friend to collect cellphone numbers, is just one example; the percentage of spear-phishing attempts directed at small businesses rose from 18 percent in 2011 to 43 percent in 2015, according to Symantec’s threat report.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2017/05/ftc-wants-help-small-businesses-spot-cyber-scams/137734/

Frequently-cited statistic about danger small businesses face from cyberattacks has no basis in fact

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It’s the kind of figure that can make your jaw drop, the kind that forces lawmakers and public officials to get off their duffs and do something, that drives home the way cyber insecurity is ravaging small businesspeople across the nation.

House and Senate lawmakers have cited it in bills that would redirect federal resources and are awaiting action on their chambers’ floors. Top executive branch officials have cited it in official testimony to Congress.

But it’s completely erroneous, not based on any existing study, according to an exhaustive Nextgov search.

The statistic, typically attributed to the National Cyber Security Alliance, is that 60 percent of small businesses that suffer a cyberattack will go out of business within six months.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2017/05/how-fake-cyber-statistic-raced-through-washington/137542

See related article, “House Panel Passes Bill Requiring Federal Cyber Guidance for Small Businesses,” at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2017/05/house-panel-passes-bill-requiring-federal-cyber-guidance-small-businesses/137499 

There is no “free” government money

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We recently heard about a woman who said the “U.S. Federal Government Grants Department” called and claimed she needed to pay $600 in order to receive federal benefits totaling $8,000.   You guessed it … she paid the money, and never got the $8,000.

The phone call was a scam. The Federal Government Grants Department doesn’t exist.   More importantly, the government will never call, email, or text you to ask for money.

Even though the woman wrote down the phone number of the caller, it can be hard to trace it back to a real person because of tricks like caller ID spoofing.   (Click the link if you don’t know what “caller ID spoofing” is.)   She probably won’t be able to get her money back.

Be suspicious of any call, text, or email that claims to be from the government.  Scammers often use names that sound like real government agencies but aren’t.   The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, has more tips on spotting fake callers who pretend to be the government.

You can find the official names and contact information for federal government agencies in our A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.   Don’t hesitate to contact the agency that claims you owe them money.   Be sure to use the contact information listed in the A-Z Index and not the contact information the caller or email provides.

If you do get scammed, then you should file a complaint with the FTC and your state’s consumer agency.   The link to Georgia’s consumer affairs offices is located at: http://www.usa.gov/directory/stateconsumer/georgia.shtml.

FTC reaches settlement with websites offering bogus federal grant information

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The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that it has reached settlements with the operators of websites that the agency claimed were deceptively touting free government grants for personal expenses and debts.

As part of an investigation into scams related to the financial downturn, the FTC alleged that the operators promised consumers access to a “members only” website that included information on how they could obtain government grants. The defendants named in the case include Ryan Champion, Joseph C. Fleming IV, and In Deep Services, Inc., doing business as Grant$ For You Now.

For access to the information, the websites asked consumers to provide their credit or debit card information to pay for a $1.99 processing fee.

The FTC said in a news release that the federal government does not provide grants to pay off debts or personal expenses and that the information provided on the “members only” site was “full of inaccurate and obsolete information.”

In addition, the agency said the operators of the sites did not inform consumers they would be charged recurring monthly fees of up to $95 a month and an additional one time fee of $19.12 and that they falsely offered a 100 percent money back guarantee. The sites were shut down in June 2009 after the FTC sued them and won a temporary restraining order.

As part of the settlement, the operators of the sites were each ordered to pay more than $9 million, which will be suspended if they pay back taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service and the state of California and surrender their remaining assets to the FTC. If the defendants are found to have misrepresented their finances, they could be ordered to pay the $9 million fine.

In addition, they have been banned from marketing or selling any grant-related products or services or offering any program in which consumers have to opt-out of being charged a recurring fee. The settlement also prohibits the operators from automatically charging a consumer’s credit or debit card account without permission.

— by Juliana Gruenwald, National Journal – 11/24/2010 – as published by NextGov.com at http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20101124_3988.php?oref=rss?zone=NGtoday 

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