From The Orlando Sentinel
By Judge Lori Vaughan
A few days ago, I received a text from someone claiming to be with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. According to the text, I have unsettled traffic penalties and to avoid my license and vehicle registration being suspended immediately, I must pay them via the included link. How convenient! I spotted the signs of a scam right away — the text originated from a random Outlook account, it was oddly worded, and the payment link used a .com and not a .gov website.
Not everyone can identify a scam so easily. Scammers recently stole $120,000 from a Florida senior using a tech support scam. The victim received a pop-up notification directing her to contact technical support because her computer had been hacked. Upon contacting the number, she was told her bank accounts were compromised and that to protect her savings she needed to withdraw and deliver cash to a person in a Publix parking lot. The victim complied, believing she was protecting her savings, but she was actually handing her money over to criminals.
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