Back-to-School Cyber Risks

It’s back-to-school time, and we all know what that means:

• Shopping for new clothes and shoes online.
• Loading the Amazon cart with classroom lists.
• Using the internet for last-minute deliveries when your kid “forgets” their project is due. (Tomorrow.)

With the influx of calendar reminders, appointments, practices and games flooding your inbox, so too come the marketing emails targeting the exact things you need for this season of busyness. Don’t forget to be on the lookout for fraudulent emails and malicious links outside of Pinnacle too!

This is a targeted time of year for hackers and criminals. Be conscious of where you are purchasing items and what you are buying. Make sure you’re not clicking on email links unless you are sure you can trust the sender. If you do receive an enticing email, go directly to the website to verify the information rather than clicking the email.

Make sure you’re paying attention to the “deals” you’re seeing for items you need. If it’s too good to be true, it often is. This is also a big time of year for fake or even stolen goods. While social networking sites selling used items are great to find bargains, you should be extra diligent about buying items from an unknown source or person. Be cautious about paying for goods or services before receiving them, and be extra vigilant for scams involving instant funds transfer services, such as Zelle, Venmo, Cashapp, etc.

For those with kiddos going off to college, take some time to remind them of these steadfast rules too. Make sure they know social media links can be dangerous. Visit the sites directly instead of clicking unknown links from unknown senders. If they’re using debit or credit cards, make sure you have alerts turned on so you can know what’s being spent and where. This is a great way to catch fraudulent attempts.

We do have a resource on holiday shopping here. Many of these apply to back-to-school season as well!