BALTIMORE — When human resources or your boss reaches out, you respond. And that's what happened when a new employee received a text from someone claiming to be the director of HR. She works at WMAR-2 News and nearly fell for this scam.
“I was on deadline. I was out doing a story,” said Blair Sabol, a WMAR-2 News reporter who started in December.
“And I get a text from Darlene, and it's to my personal number asking me if I can chat for a quick second. I didn't actually remember who Darlene was, but it sounded familiar, so I Googled her name, and it was our HR person. And I went, ‘Oh.’ Immediately, I'm nervous, because why is HR asking me for a meeting?” Sabol recalled.
The person pretending to be Darlene then asked Sabol to purchase “google certificates” from a nearby store, and that's when she caught on.
“I stopped talking to them, and I immediately looked up the number for Darlene, called her, and I had a whole conversation because we had never met in person of like, 'Oh, hi, nice to meet you. Did you text me a second ago? Oh, no, that wasn't you? That was a scam,'” said Sabol.
The next day she received another text supposedly from our News Director. Sabol knew not to respond but understands how someone could fall for this.
“You know, I'm a new employee, I'm new to Baltimore. I've got a lot going on, especially the job can be stressful, we're on deadline, so they really got me at a vulnerable moment. And I'm glad that I was able to put two and two together,” said Sabol.
Wayne Schepens, the managing director of LaunchTech Communications, a public relations firm for cybersecurity companies, is also familiar with this scam.
“An employee of mine who had been scammed by someone pretending they were me,” Schepens shared.
He added that this was a newer employee who didn't directly report to him.
“He was having trouble with bank accounts. He was having trouble with credit card accounts that he had set up, and it became a really big problem,” said Schepens.
With a background in cybersecurity, Schepens knows that these scammers research their victims, their social networks, then come up with a convincing narrative.
“So if they're targeting this individual specifically, they know that he's a new employee that just came on board and potentially could be wanting to impress their boss, right? And so, the initial hook might just be asking for little things like, for instance, hey, we have an event coming up. Can you go ahead and buy some gift cards?” Schepens warned.
And that can grow into larger asks like an iPhone or equipment until the victim is tapped out or discovers the ruse.
“The challenge is, there's not a lot you can do about it,” said Schepens.
When something like this arises, his employees know to speak with Schepens in person. He added that it’s important not to respond right away. Look up your manager’s information in the company directory or go directly to the human resources department to try and verify the message.
And it's not just money at risk, the scammer could also be after sensitive company information, which is why you should never share credentials or click on any links.
The scammers also check job networking sites to see when someone starts a new position, so new employees need to be on the lookout.
To report text scams to your phone carrier, forward the suspicious text message to 7726 (which spells “SPAM” on most phone keypads). You can also report these texts to the Federal Trade Commission by clicking here.