PSA: Fraud alert!

🚨 PSA: FRAUD!! 🚨 Yesterday, fraud hit too close to home for me, underscoring the need to stay SUPER vigilant. Having a deep understanding of fraud from various perspectives, I feel compelled to share this experience.

In my career, I've:

• Led several user research studies interviewing fraud analysts

• Conducted multiple studies on different types of fraud

• Tested fraud-fighting solutions

One of my Ask Like A Pro cohorts was also under attack from a Nigerian scam network posing as fraudulent participants.

I've also fallen victim to fraudulent purchases, unfortunately.

But yesterday's incident hit harder! A former Ask Like A Pro student reached out to me saying she received texts from someone impersonating ME. They claimed TO BE ME and requested her help with an Apple gift card task for a client. 😡 This is the screenshot she shared.

Misleading and impersonating someone else is reprehensible. Having this done to ONE OF YOUR OWN is downright horrible. I'm still trying to comprehend how they obtained my student's contact, made the connection between us, and conjured up this plausible task. Thankfully she recognized this was a scam, quickly.

It's disheartening to see how personal and intrusive these schemes can be. It also threatens my professional reputation.

What an incredibly stark reminder of the importance of cybersecurity.

So please, let's stay vigilant, folks. 🛡️ Be careful out there. And watch your SIX!

And... if you have any ideas about how to report this type of fraud, and to whom, I'd love to hear them. We have the phone number that sent the texts.