Joyce Shumate
The Green Valley Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers Scam Squad (GVSAVSS) will present a seminar on spotting scams. Sponsored by the QC Computer Club, the meeting will be held at the Kino Center, Mesquite and Ocotillo Rooms, on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m.
The purpose of the Scam Squad is to be proactive. It is to fight crime by informing the community of the current scams and frauds so that residents will recognize the deceptions for what they are and not fall victim. The fraudsters are clever: They make a situation seem real and believable. Their “job” is to hide their criminal intent.
The GVSAVSS members will discuss the different types of scams. They will explain that the most common scam is commercial spam, sent to promote products or services.
Other kinds of scams include phishing spam, which is sent to trick people into giving up their personal information, and malware spam, which is sent to infect people’s computers with malicious software.
The GVSAVSS members will give tips on how to spot scams. They advise people to look for the following:
• Unsolicited emails—emails from senders you don’t know
• Emails with misspelled words or grammatical errors
• Emails that ask you to click on links or open attachments
• Delete junk emails before opening them
The GVSAVSS members also advise people to be careful about what they click on or open in emails. They explain that clicking on a link or opening an attachment in a spam email can lead to malware infection or identity theft.
The GVSAVSS members will conclude the seminar by encouraging people to report scams to them (please call 520-351-6715) and to use spam-filtering software to help protect themselves from spam.
If you are concerned about scams, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself:
• Do not answer the phone unless you know who is calling.
• Use spam-filtering software.
• Be careful about what you click on or open in emails.
• Report the scam to your internet service provider.
• Educate yourself about scams.
By following these tips, you can help reduce the spam you receive.
To learn more about the many different scams that are out there, join the QC Computer Club on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. in the Kino Center’s Mesquite and Ocotillo Rooms.
Visit the website www.scamsquadsav.org to check for other alerts. To see what else the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers do for the community, visit www.gvsav.org. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with the organization, please call 520-351-6746 to speak with their recruiter who will answer your questions and arrange to give you a tour of the facility.