Most people with a mobile phone are conditioned to ignore phone calls when their caller ID says “scam likely,” but might be less likely to ignore a text message from their boss.
The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau says that a recent series of scams should make Wisconsinites exercise caution before immediately responding to messages that appear to be from their supervisors at work.
The organization issued a Monday release noting that scammers will offer enough information to seem legitimate, such as “Hi Chris, I’m tied up in a conference call. Please call me if you get this text. Thanks,” followed by the legitimate name of the company boss.
Texts typically follow where the scammer will ask for a gift card to be purchased or for money to be wired to another business. The scammer may even ask for personal information.
Wisconsinites are advised to keep the boss’ phone number saved in a personal phone contact list, to ensure that impersonators reaching out from a different number are easier to spot.
Also, if the behavior of the phony “boss” seems odd, think twice and reach out to the actual boss personally using the real contact information known about the individual. No need to worry about bothering the boss, as they are the first to want to know if someone is impersonating them.
Finally, as is the case in most scams, if it seems sketchy, simply do not reply. After contacting the person being impersonated, contact the BBB online at BBB.org/ScamTracker and BBB.org/wisconsin to report the situation.
