Ohioans warned of email phishing scams

Email continues to be a popular avenue for scammers who want to steal consumers’ personal and financial information. To trick consumers into clicking links and providing personal information, scammers are posing as legitimate businesses and emailing consumers.

BBB warns consumers to be extra vigilant when receiving urgent emails from supposed businesses asking for payment information.

How the scam works

You receive an urgent email from a business you have a membership or an account with that states your subscription or membership has expired. The email asks you to click a link to provide your payment information. The email may even offer a special deal or discount for updating your payment information now.

The email may look legitimate and include the business’ logo, and you may have even received the email around the time your subscription has expired or will be expiring. So you click the link and provide your credit card information, only to find out the email and the website were fake. Your card may be charged, and a scammer now has your personal and financial information.

One Ohio consumer reported to the BBB Scam Tracker they received an email from someone posing as a Norton Anti-Virus support team member requesting their personal information to renew a Norton subscription they do not have.

“He even asked me to go into my online bank account and to see that the amount was pending in my account. A form came up that looked like the bank's online screen with the amount pending. He was very convincing. After a couple hours on the phone with him, I finally figured it was a scam when the bank didn’t have the deposit mentioned above and Norton confirmed I didn’t have an account with them,” the consumer reported.

How to avoid this scam

—Take a second look at the email. If the sender’s email is a long string of numbers and letters that don’t make sense, it’s likely an impostor. Scare tactics, urgent requests, spelling errors and poorly written emails also are common for phishing emails.

—Go to the business to confirm the email. Verify the information on your own. Consider calling the business’ real phone number directly (don’t use any phone numbers that are included in the questionable email you received) and verify your account details with them.

—Think twice before providing payment for something you didn’t initiate. Don’t provide your payment information to anyone if you did not initiate the purchase. If you’re being asked to pay with your bank account number, prepaid credit cards, digital wallet apps or wiring money, this is a red flag.

—Check with BBB Scam Tracker. If you’re questioning an email you received from a business, look up the details on BBB Scam Tracker and verify if anyone else has received the same type of email. This can help you verify whether or not the email is fake.