Now, when you sell a stock, it usually takes a few business days to process.
My father immediately called E-Trade and the company was able to abort the transaction.
Then came some strange emails.
“Sorry in advance…,” they said.
“I have access to Amazon and some of your banks.
I have your routing number and bank account number.
We’ll just take [your money] the good way.
What if you give me 5000$ payment in bitcoin.
I promise not to sell your important bank data.”
The FTC says these types of messages demanding bitcoin in exchange for not violating your lifeare growing in number.
To avoid falling prey, here are some steps you might take today.
Be sure to check the sender’s email address and any links to verify the legitimacy of the sender.
If the IRS or your bank needs important information from you, they probably won’t email or text.
When he clicked on the email, he was asked to enter his username and password.
Unfortunately, he did.
patch your passwords regularly
And be sure youdon’t use the same onefor various accounts.
My father’s Amazon username and password were identical to the one he used for E-Trade.
He now uses a password manager that helps generate and store unique passwords for all of his accounts.
Some password managers that we like atCNET include LastPass and Bitwarden.
My dad’s first instinct was to call E-Trade – a wise step.
