ONLINE EXPOSURES + PANDEMIC = FEEDING FRENZY FOR SCUMBAGS By Kevin C. Amrhein, CIC Natural disasters like hurricanes often bring out the best in humanity. Scenes of community – neighbors and strangers alike – coming together to help each other. Beautiful. Hopeful. Inspiring. And then there’s those guys … ... scumbags who ooze out of their caves to feast on chaos, fear, and confusion. Unfortunately many of these lowlifes are exceptional at two things: 1) hunting their prey (victims of post-disaster scams often are specifically targeted – not random), and 2) convincing their prey of the scam’s validity (e.g. “your
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insurance company mandates a preclaim inspection performed by an independent contractor like myself. Cash only, please.”) Having personally experienced several hurricanes, I thought I’d seen the worst humanity can produce … and then came a pandemic. Since things really started going south in early 2020, authorities have reported significant spikes in online/ cybercrime activity. No demographic is immune, but data show that small businesses seem to be a favorite target of these slimeballs. A pandemic is the perfect recipe OCTOBER 2020
for such crimes, and knucklehead criminals know it.
• Communications have shifted almost entirely online. • Employees often are accessing company networks from remote/ vulnerable locations. • Employees are distracted, sleepdeprived, and fearful of the future. Translation: lack of focus. • Businesses are seeking financial lifelines from governments/banks, and such transactions are handled electronically.
