The Police Department and Information Technology Services want to take this opportunity to warn you about recently reported IRS and PG&E scams.
Since it’s tax time, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) urges people to protect themselves against tax scams by using caution when viewing emails, responding to telephone calls, or getting advice on tax issues. These scams happen every year around this time and can take many different forms. For more information about this year’s tax scams visit: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-”Dirty-Dozen”-Tax-Scams-for-2014;-Identity-Theft,-Phone-Scams-Lead-List
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has learned of an email scam targeting residents throughout the United States. Beware of suspicious emails that appear to be bills sent by PG&E requesting account information. PG&E urges people not to respond to these emails, click on links or open attachments in them, or provide any personal information. For more information visit: http://www.pgecurrents.com/2014/01/08/pge-warns-of-scam-emails-calls/
How to Protect Yourself:
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Don’t open files, click links, or call numbers in unsolicited emails, text messages, IMs, Facebook postings, tweets, etc.
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Always verify the identity of a person asking you for information, money, or access to your accounts, computer, etc.
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If you can’t verify something is legitimate, ignore, delete it, or ask the person who supposedly sent it.
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Never - ever - ever - reveal your password!!
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Report crimes and criminal activity to the Police Department at (831) 459- 2231 or provide anonymous tips at police.ucsc.edu.
More information about scams can be found at http://police.ucsc.edu/ or http://its.ucsc.edu/security/stay-secure/minreq/scams.html, or http://ftc.gov/.
