Phishing attempts — when someone pretends to be somebody else to get money — are by far the most common scams in Alaska. 'Most people would like to think they wouldn’t be fooled by these, but people are,” said John Haley of the Alaska Department of Law.
John Havrilek, 73, of Petersburg, was tricked with a phishing scam pretending to be his internet provider, GCI.
“One call after another after another, people that we had in our email list called us and said, did you just email me? And this is from people all over the country, relatives and things like this,” Havrilek said. “And I said, ‘No.’ And they said, ‘Well, we just got an email from you saying, ‘Hi, are you busy and could you email me? Regards John.”
As far as Havrilek knows, none of his friends gave the scammers any money. He changed his email account and contacted GCI about it. “You know, I think most people would like to think they wouldn’t be fooled by these, but people are,” said Haley.Of scams reported so far this year, residents have lost $5.5 million“We have people who go around from store to store buying thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gift cards giving the money to a scammer who they believe works for the IRS or the FBI,” Haley said.
“If it seems suspicious at all, if they’re asking for any types of personal information, passwords, things like that, reach out to us directly,” Edge said.
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