Dear BlackCloak Client,

With Mother's Day & Father's Day approaching, it's no surprise our loved ones are top of mind. Here at BlackCloak, we're starting to see a rise in family emergency and virtual kidnapping scams that use your loved ones as leverage to steal your money.

How Do These Scams Work?

These scams always involve an extortion scheme, with the end goal resulting in the victim paying money to help a loved one that they believe is being threatened or held against their will, in trouble with law enforcement or hurt. These scammers will do their homework on you and your loved ones before initiating the scam. They may search Data Broker Sites to collect basic information like name, age, address, phone number, and more. They scour social media accounts in hopes to glean more information about you and your loved one, your whereabouts, and friends. The more information they can collect on you and your loved one, the more believable and real the scam feels to you, which increases the likelihood of a payout. Additionally, these scammers will claim to have your loved one in their possession (when in reality they do not) or pretend to be a loved one and say they need your help (typically targeting those loving and generous grandmas and grandpas). Here are a few examples:

• Kidnapping - The bad guys claim to have abducted your loved one. They may spoof the phone number, so you think it's your loved one calling. You may hear lots of screaming and crying.
• Emergency - The bad guys call and claim to be your loved one. They state they've gotten themselves into trouble with law enforcement and need help to get bailed out. They make you promise not to call their parents or other family members (wonder why?). 

The scammers attempt to keep you on the phone so you can’t verify you loved ones’ whereabouts or contact law enforcement. Through the use of fear and threats, they coerce you to pay out before their scheme falls apart. They will typically request money be paid either through a money transfer app or bank wire transfer.

What Can You Do To Protect Yourself & Loved Ones?

• Remove your and your loved ones' information from Data Broker Sites.
• Adjust the privacy settings on your and your loved ones' social media accounts so you're only sharing with family and friends and not the whole world.
• Be careful about who you accept for friend requests from. 
• Limit the personal information and whereabouts that you post on social media. 

What To Do If You Receive a Call?

In the heat of the moment, you're likely to be stressed and frightened, but it's important that you ask questions, verify and not hand over information or money.

• Ask the caller details that only your loved one would know.
• In the case of a kidnapping, demand to speak to your loved one.
• Using another phone, call or text your loved one OR another family member to verify your loved one's whereabouts.
• Never hand over personal information like bank account or credit card numbers and if they request you purchase gift cards, don't.

Download or Update to the Latest Version of the Mobile App

The BlackCloak mobile app, version 1.2.17, is available in the app stores for Apple & Google. If you have automatic updates enabled on your device, your app may have already updated. However, if you want to check or push the update to your device, navigate to your device's app store: Apple or Google. If an update is available, press the “Update” button to update to the latest version.  

Next Client Webinar - May 11th at 5:30pm EST

Sign up for the next monthly webinar, Physical Security of Your Data Is Just As Important As CyberSecurity. In this 25-minute webinar, we'll discuss physical security controls you can implement to protect yourself and loved ones. Register HERE.

As always, the BlackCloak Team is here to help. If you have any questions, email us at ask@blackcloak.io.

Thanks!

The BLACKCLOAK Team

We're actively monitoring your devices to ensure you're protected.

If you get a new device, email us so we can protect it.

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