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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the FBI says one way to stay safe online is to recognize techniques cyber criminals use to prey on their victims. 

Social engineering—a method used to convince someone to do something for you based on who you claim to be—is one of those techniques.

Supervisory Special Agent Patrick Geahan…

Patrick Geahan: We see this technique everywhere. It is a part of virtually every intrusion or scam that we investigate. We see this through e-mails, instant messages, and we even see it through phone calls.

Halpern: Social engineering is used in technical support scams in which cyber criminals purport to call from a software or computer company and claim they need your password to fix your computer.

Social engineering is also used in calls from criminals claiming to be a representative from your bank so that they can access your account.

Geahan suggests verifying and confirming the source of these types of phone calls.

Geahan: If your bank or anyone else calls you and starts asking sensitive questions, politely hang up. Pick up the phone and call them back through a number you’ve already known and used.

Halpern: With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.

Related story:

• National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2016