Scams in the digital age are alive and well.
Oscar Wilde once said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. However, when the imitator is using your image to try and rob people of their earnings, flattery is the last thing you feel.
Itomic recently became aware of just such a scam. A criminal entity was pretending to be Itomic, and was using a very similar domain name to ours. In short, the fake Itomic was offering non-existent jobs, with money (most likely crypto) being exchanged, and the victim ultimately losing.
This article describes the scam and even lists some of the fake Itomic domains, along with many other fake domains: https://www.cybertrace.com.au/fake-job-scam-app-reviewer.
Itomic became aware of this after being contacted by several individuals who were seeking confirmation of the legitimacy of the job offering. A quick investigation revealed that the domain names being used were registered in the Netherlands, with the scam primarily targeting people from that region.
Itomic immediately reported the scam upon becoming aware of it, and we are pleased to report that the domain names reported are no longer active. However, thanks to some domain monitoring systems we’ve set up, we are learning of new ones as they spring up, and moving to have them shut down each time.
If you think you might have been impacted by this scam, we urge you to report it to the Australian Cyber Security Centre in the first instance.
The situation described above serves as a timely reminder that scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Indeed, it is now quite commonplace for scammers to impersonate legitimate businesses.
What can we do to protect ourselves?
Scams come in many different colours – phone calls, emails, SMS, direct messages on social media. So how do we spot a potential scam? Here are a few things to consider:
- First and foremost, always be vigilant. Be alert but not alarmed.
- Check the domain name carefully! Does something look just not quite right?
- Check for the padlock symbol next to the domain name (or the https:// prefix). The padlock symbol indicates that the website has a security certificate (or SSL Certificate), and verifies that any information you send to the site can’t be intercepted by hackers.
- Look for poor spelling or grammar, low quality images, design issues and other red flags.
- Be wary of deals that seem too good to be true.
- Scrutinise the payment options.
- Don’t be conned by trust signals, such as awards and security logos.
- Keep virus and malware software up-to-date, and run a scan if you experience numerous ads and pop-ups.
While the above list is far from exhaustive (and is primarily focussed on spotting a fake website), Itomic hopes that it might offer you some useful ideas. Stay safe out there!
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Further reading:
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams