BEWARE OF SCAMS
Recently we have seen a HUGE uptick in the number of compromised web sites offering bogus Flash installers and spoofing phone calls trying to trick you into giving out your personal info. The biggest difference in these scams and those of past years is the invasiveness and problems they cause. For many years there simply haven't been many malicious attempts to attack Apple computers but that is changing. Here are a few notes about what happens and what to do OR not do.
1. Bogus Flash installers
Flash installers have always been a target for malicious software - the difference is that the current bogus Flash installers now install very malicious software on your computer that can be challenging to remove.
While browsing the Internet, you might see a screen like this asking you to click to update Flash - just say NO!!
Close the web page with the red button at the upper left and then quit and restart your web browser. Adobe has changed the default behavior of the legitimate Flash plug in and installer to handle it all in the background so you will NEVER need to update Flash because a web site tells you to.
2. Phone scams Phone scams have been around a long time - everything from bogus IRS calls, to someone telling you your PC is compromised. Now, however, scammers are "spoofing" legitimate phones numbers causing folks to believe that Apple or someone legitimate is calling. Spoofing is what happens when scammers hack the caller ID of their calls to fool you into picking up the phone. Recently we have heard of them spoofing the numbers of legitimate Apple stores. You may receive multiple calls in a row, one a day, they may continue for a few days or even a week. The important thing to remember is the Apple will NEVER call you if you did not ask them to - they have millions of customers - really, they will NEVER call.
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