Watch out for hurricane relief scams and other online deceptions

In the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, you may have received an urgent email or online plea to help the storms’ victims. Scams began even before the storms hit shore, and they continue today. This Cybersecurity Awareness Month is what you can do to avoid becoming a victim.

Tropical Financial Credit Union warned its members:

Scammers have been using AI to generate fake images that play on your emotions. Recently, a photo of a scared little girl holding a puppy and being evacuated from a flood area circulated on Facebook and other social media. The image is fake, designed to click a "donate" link to a phony relief effort or to steal your personal information.

Follow these tips to avoid falling victim to an election-themed scam:

• Be wary of AI-generated images. Look for signs that an image might be fake, such as unusual details or inconsistencies.
• Make sure that the charity you’re donating to is legitimate. Only donate through the official websites of well-known charitable organizations.
• Don't act impulsively. Take time to research before donating or clicking on links, especially in the aftermath of a disaster.

Disasters are just a few ways thieves thrive on honest, well-meaning people. Visit Tropical Financial’s webpage on fraud tactics for details on how crooks steal information from your trash and mailbox; contact you online or by phone to obtain personal information; infect your computer with viruses, retroviruses, spyware and worms; and more.

In this, the 21^st year of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, is sharing four best practices for staying safe online:

• Use strong passwords. They should consist of a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, like those found above the numbers on a computer keyboard.
• Turn on multifactor authentication or MFA. That extra step can stop someone who has stolen your login ID and password but does not have access to your phone or tablet from logging into your financial, health and other accounts.
• Treat information requests with extreme caution. Don’t share personal information with unknown persons. If someone claims to be a friend or relative, first confirm with them that the message is authentic.
• Update your software. Hackers exploit weaknesses in old programs and web browsers. You better defend your computer, smartphone, and other digital devices against their exploits by downloading and installing updates.

For details and a toolkit on other ways to protect yourself, visit the agency's Awareness Month webpage.

Companies are vulnerable, too. About 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber-attack go out of business, according to a study that the Small Business Administration cites on its webpage. Companies face many of the same threats as consumers, most notably phishing and malware attempts to log into their networks and access confidential financial, personnel, and customer information or install ransomware. Consumers are often victims of data breaches that result in their personal information being used for identity theft.

Small businesses don’t have to go it alone. CISA offers information to small and medium-sized companies on how to protect themselves, and the SBA provides support too.