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Mass Consumer Affairs Blog

The Official Blog of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation

Category Archives: Cybersecurity

Beware of Coronavirus Scams Posted on Mar 25

While schools and businesses are closed and everyone is practicing social distancing in an attempt to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), there is one group that is hard at work—scammers. Seeing an opportunity to take advantage in growing numbers, scammers are both resorting   …Continue Reading Beware of Coronavirus Scams

National Consumer Protection Week 2020 Posted on Mar 2

 National Consumer Protection Week 2020

Today marks the beginning of 23rd annual National Consumer Protection Week, a weeklong celebration of understanding consumer rights and making well-informed decisions about money championed by the Federal Trade Commissions’ (FTC). Educating consumers about fraud threats and other protection issues has become vital in recent   …Continue Reading National Consumer Protection Week 2020

Hacked: What To Do If You Are The Victim Of A Data Breach? Posted on Jul 30

 Hacked: What To Do If You Are The Victim Of A Data Breach?

  In 2018 over 440,000 Massachusetts residents were impacted by data breaches. This month Equifax reached a $700 million settlement as a result of a 2017 large-scale data breach. Yesterday, Capital One announced a major data breach affecting over 100 million consumers. If you have   …Continue Reading Hacked: What To Do If You Are The Victim Of A Data Breach?

Protect your child’s identity and future: What you need to know about Child ID Theft Posted on Jan 30

 Protect your child’s identity and future: What you need to know about Child ID Theft

  Many of us have experienced that moment of panic upon learning that our personal or financial information has been compromised. Will the thieves use my financial information and drain my accounts? Will they use my identity to open new accounts and ruin my credit?   …Continue Reading Protect your child’s identity and future: What you need to know about Child ID Theft

Marriott’s Starwood Hotels Have Suffered a Major Data Breach Posted on Dec 3

  Over 500 million people may have been impacted by a data breach affecting the Marriott’s Starwood hotels guest reservation system. Marriott International, which owns the former Starwood brand hotels, says that in early September, an alert from a security tool provided notification that an   …Continue Reading Marriott’s Starwood Hotels Have Suffered a Major Data Breach

LinkedIn Scams Posted on Jun 6

 LinkedIn Scams

Almost 470 million members share their personal information and professional details on LinkedIn to market themselves to potential employers. That‘s why it’s important to keep an eye out for suspicious people reaching out to you, as scammers use the service to target unsuspecting job seekers. Scammers   …Continue Reading LinkedIn Scams

Google Phishing Scam Posted on May 8

 Google Phishing Scam

  The unusual worm that landed in the mailboxes of Google’s Gmail users last week was a sophisticated identity phishing scam that quickly spread to various other contacts. Scammers were able to get users to open a malicious link using one the oldest tricks in   …Continue Reading Google Phishing Scam

“You’ve Got Mail-Scams” Posted on May 5

 “You’ve Got Mail-Scams”

  As of February, Verizon discontinued providing Verizon.Net email service. The company partnered with AOL and gave their customers 30 days to choose one of three options: switch over to AOL, transfer their email to a different provider (such as Gmail or Hotmail) or do   …Continue Reading “You’ve Got Mail-Scams”