Scammers Are Targeting You for Reimbursement for Verizon’s Power Outages.
Last week, Verizon suffered a massive network outage , leaving nearly two million subscribers unable to use their phones for nearly a day without Wi-Fi or SOS mode. As an apology for the inconvenience, the company promised to refund victims just $20 . Naturally, scammers quickly developed a phishing scam targeting eligible recipients. As Android Authority reports , the Jones County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia issued a warning about fake Verizon “refund” messages circulating online.
Verizon Credit Card Phishing Scam
According to the Sheriff’s Department, scammers may contact you via text message or email, posing as Verizon employees, offering information about power outage compensation. These messages contain phishing links that may be designed to harvest personal information or login credentials, or to deliver malware to your device. Clicking the links will likely compromise your data, especially if you enter any information on the malicious website.
If you’re a Verizon subscriber and suffer a power outage, you ‘ll receive an SMS message informing you that your $20 is available for claim in the myVerizon app, so you might not immediately suspect it’s a scam. Furthermore, since you genuinely need to claim the funds, you might be persuaded by a message that sounds urgent. Don’t fall for it.
In general, you shouldn’t click on links in unsolicited messages, and be suspicious of any messages that encourage you to click on them, even if they appear to be from a legitimate company and relate to a legitimate issue. As this phishing campaign and others like it demonstrate, scammers can and will impersonate well-known brands and use real events to appear more credible.
Instead, always go directly to the app or official website—enter the URL and double-check it , or use a password manager—and log in with your credentials. Once logged in, you’ll be able to see all legitimate information and perform actions securely. Remember that scammers easily spoof websites, so if you click a phishing link, you may not realize you’re on a fake page.