It seems like everyone tries to cram last-minute things onto their schedule as the calendar prepares to flip;  Stores are busy with clearance sales, media outlets are filled with year-in-review programming, and scammers are also busy trying to take advantage of you.

The Duluth Police Department is warning Northlanders of a few scams that are unfortunately making their rounds in these last few days of 2014.

  • A phishing email and Facebook scam is sending messages that claim the missing Air Asia Flight QZ8501 has been found. The message includes a teaser image of a crashed Air Asia jet and invites users to click a 'Play' button to view 'breaking news' footage.  Don't click it . . . unless you want your device to crash.
  • Watch out for Apple Watch scams. This new device is incredibly popular and will be used for a variety of scams that try to infect workstations with malware. There will be lotteries, giveaways, "Free Apple Watch" contests, and promises that if you buy something, you will get an Apple Watch thrown in the deal at no cost. Be careful with all these emails, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is! Think Before You Click!"
  • Criminals have now created a mobile app that researchers identified started in South Korea in the last few days, attempting to exploit the media frenzy related to "The Interview" movie. There is a torrent download, and it poses as an Android App to download the movie to mobile devices. It's not legitimate - it's a banking Trojan. Do not to download anything related to "The Interview" unless you are 100% sure it comes from a legit source. If you want to see the movie, go to that website yourself, do not click on a link in an email promising to play the movie.

As with any potential scam, you're reminded to use common sense.  If you do encounter one of these scams, contact the your local police department by calling 911.

 

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