The Better Business Bureau is warning people about scammers looking to steal personal information after users log in to watch their favorite high school team online.
The scammer’s goal is to capture personal information, such as credit cards and Social Security numbers, as fans log in to watch their team play.
The scheme works as the scammers will post fake links to social media sites in hopes that users will see and input their information.
The scammers are hoping that viewers will input their financial information to pay for the live streaming of the games.
They will often tag the schools involved to make it appear legitimate.
Once the user inputs his/her data, the victim doesn’t get to watch the game because the scammer has not set up a stream.
Instead, the scammers have most likely taken whatever data they entered.
“Fans need to remain diligent in where and how they find the stream of a high school contest,” said Matt Troha, an Assistant Executive Director with the Illinois High School Association, talking to the BBB.
“On Twitter especially, take notice of account names and photos, which often seem random, and look at their follower and following numbers,” said Troha. “Low follower counts indicate the account likely was just started. Look at the content of their posts as most are nothing but tweets to stream games.”
DeSoto ISD has experienced this issue, seeing spammers post links within the school district’s social media pages.
“We do experience this particularly with social media. We have been discussing a solution for this but have seen an influx of spammers on social posts. We attempt to hide or delete them but quickly see more posts for streams added in mass,” said Tiffanie Blackmon-Jones, DeSoto ISD Communications.
As soon as the district hides and deletes the spammers’ posts, more spammers comment and post fake links.
Blackmon-Jones told the DeSoto Tribune that she and her team are continuing to review the activity and assess solutions to this issue.
Here are some tips the BBB offers for consumers to stay safe online.
- Research any website before paying any money or entering any information. Check the company’s BBB Business Profile at BBB.org.
- Pay by credit card whenever possible if you need to challenge the payment.
- Check a site’s security settings. If the site is secure, its URL (web address) should start with “HTTPS://.” You may also see a picture of a small closed lock in the screen’s lower right-hand corner.
- Be cautious before clicking through to links included in social media posts, unsolicited text messages, or emails. Clicking on unfamiliar links can place you at risk for malware or identity theft.
To find out more about social media scams, click here.