The EssentiaList

By Catherine Haug, May 23, 2018

As you’ve probably observed, scams seem to be the norm these days, and we need to stay sharp to avoid them. The latest scams exploit the new replacement Medicare Cards. Since many of ESP’s subscribers are Seniors, I thought sharing this info would be helpful.

The old/current cards use a version of your social security number, and scammers use that number to pretend to be you. So the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is creating new numbers for Medicare recipient, rather than using their SS number, to reduce exposure of your number to scammers.

But as you might have expected, scammers have already found ways to take advantage of this. Read on for information on what you need to know/do to avoid becoming a victim, and what to do if you suspect you have been victimized in this regard. (more…)

By Catherine Haug, updated  Oct 2017  – see Example 3, below (originally published Jan 15, 2017)

In the last week I’ve gotten several phishing/scam emails, so I thought I’d share them with you to help you know how to recognize them.

Phishing is fishing for private information such as usernames, passwords and credit card accounts. Wikipedia (1) defines it as:

“the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.”

A scam is “fraudulent scheme performed by a dishonest individual, group, or company in an attempt obtain money or something else of value” according to the Business Dictionary (2).

The examples below appear to be from the trusted businesses: FedEx, USPS, and Earthlink. But if you look at the sender’s email address or other clues (see example 3 for example with several other clues), you can tell the sender is pretending, in an attempt to gain your trust and get your information. (more…)

By Catherine Haug, Sept 8, 2017 ; updates: added SSN section on 9/10/17