Cyber Self-Defense: How To Avoid These Common Scams

Between online commerce and social media, we’re all spending more time on the internet these days. So are cybercriminals. Learn to protect yourself from their most common scams.

Social Media Account Hacks  

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram use email notifications to update you on account activity and new friend requests. In an attempt to access your account, cybercriminals will impersonate these emails and make them look just like the official ones. In an ironic twist, the message will often be a warning that someone has been trying to access your account, prompting you to click a link to change your password or recover your log-in credentials. Unfortunately, that link takes you to a fake page that allows the cybercriminals to hack into your actual account.

What you should do: Never click on any links that are emailed to you until you’ve verified the sender. Always go to your social media pages by typing the web address into the URL bar or opening the social network’s app on your phone. Better yet, set up two-step verification on your social accounts so that signing on requires a special access code be texted to you in addition to you providing your log-in credentials.

Emergency or Person-in-Need Scams

One way scammers prey on their victims’ emotions is by impersonating a relative, attorney, emergency medical personnel or law enforcement official to falsely convince them that a loved one is in an emergency situation. In doing so, the scammer will claim the loved one needs money sent immediately to resolve the situation. While this can be done through social media – where the scammer creates an account that looks like your friend or family member’s profile and messages their victim through it – it can also be done via the phone. New artificial intelligence technology allows bad actors to even impersonate someone’s voice.

What you should do: If you receive a phone call, remember that it’s not rude to hang up the phone in these situations – in fact, that’s exactly what you should do. To verify that your loved one is not actually in an emergency situation, simply hand dial their number and speak to them that way. Even if the caller ID says your loved one’s name, it’s possible the scammer has manipulated it. If you’ve received a message from a social media account, you can follow the same protocol – don’t send any money or personal information, and manually call your loved one.

Phishing Attempts

More than one third of all successful cyber scams start with a phishing email. Like social media impersonation, these messages appear to come from an official source and ask you to log in to a seemingly legitimate site or click what appears to be a legitimate link. There are many people and organizations scammers impersonate to get your attention with these phishing attempts, including:

• Lottery or sweepstakes representatives claiming you’ve won a prize and instructing you to pay for supposed shipping, taxes or other fees to claim it
• U.S. government or law enforcement officials alleging you’ve committed a crime and must make a payment to resolve the supposed matter
• Real estate agents sending wire transfer instructions that are actually fraudulent and will redirect funds to the scammer’s account

What you should do: Stay calm. Many phishing scams rely on your emotional response to the prospect that something is compromised or at risk to make you react quickly. Take your time to verify the URL and email address of the sender. If these elements don’t sync up with the institution’s legitimate information, reach out to your bank or credit card company directly to verify. If they haven’t sent you anything, simply hit “delete.”

Romance and Celebrity Scams

Dating apps have become a popular way to meet potential romantic partners. Their popularity, though, and the very personal nature of the information often shared on them makes them prime targets for cyber scams. A scammer might lure you in with messages, phone calls or pictures but will be reluctant to meet in person. Once they’ve gained your trust and learned more about you, they make their pitch – usually something to do with being short on cash. Similarly, bad actors will create fake social media profiles that look like a famous celebrity. Then, they’ll reach out to their victims – sometimes pretending to pursue a romantic relationship – and claim they are in need of money.

In addition to these scams, cybercriminals can now use artificial intelligence to create a “deepfake” – an image, video or audio of a real or non-existent person speaking or performing an action that is generated by machine learning. To trick you even further, cybercriminals could use a deepfake on a video or phone call to convince you they’re a real person.

What you should do: Keep your guard up when meeting someone online. Unless you’re donating through a reputable charity, you should never give money to someone you haven’t met in person. And anyone you connect with on a dating site who doesn’t want to meet you in person almost certainly has other motives for being there. If someone feels suspicious, it’s best to end the connection.

Investment Fraud

Often through social media posts, direct messages or online ads, scammers committing investment fraud will trick people into investing money in financial markets, ramp and dump stocks, cryptocurrency, precious metals and more based on false information. Usually, these scammers will promise high returns with little to no risk – but the money victims “invest” will either be stolen or used to sustain a fake financial ecosystem.

What you should do: You can always start by researching any investment programs that are pitched to you – but your Baird Financial Advisor can be a prime resource to help you decipher whether it’s a place you really want to invest your money. Remember: Investments always involve risk, and there are no guaranteed returns – if the risk of an investment is downplayed, it’s a clear red flag.

Online Shopping Scams

Advancements in technology and its increased convenience have driven the rise of online shopping, with 34% of shoppers buying something online at least once a week. Naturally, this has led to the rise of related scams. These scams can be hard to spot as cybercriminals pretend to be legitimate online sellers using fake websites and deceptive advertising. They catch your attention with great low prices and deals that are seemingly too good to be true. Some will simply steal your money with no product in return, while others will send you a faulty or defective product with no return information.

What you should do: Always search for reviews before making a purchase from any website. If you can’t find any or can only find bad ones, it’s safe to say you shouldn’t make the purchase, no matter the deal. Pay particular attention to the payment method. If the website asks you to pay using a money order, wire transfer, or peer-to-peer payment platform like PayPal or Venmo, it’s likely a scam.

Fake Antivirus Software

Another ironic and particularly annoying scam starts with a message that pops up on your computer or smartphone screen, usually while you’re trying to navigate somewhere: “Your device has been infected!” and to “Click this link to run a diagnostic!” or “Download this antivirus software.”

The most benign outcome of clicking that link is typically malware that plants unwanted pop-ups on your screen while you browse online, which can be pretty irritating. A far worse scenario, though, is ransomware. This kind of attack can block your operating system from working at all until you send a sizable sum of money for the “antivirus system” which is just a decryption key.

What you should do: The most important thing, of course, is to resist clicking on any hysterical warnings. Close your browser windows and reopen them. If the message reappears, restart your device. New versions of this kind of attack are being invented all the time, so make sure your real antivirus software is up to date and active. If the message is seemingly from a service you’re subscribed to, navigate to the official website through your own search engine.

Anyone can fall victim to internet scams, regardless of age, background, or tech-savviness. Your Baird Financial Advisor is here to help you identify the red flags and navigate these situations. To further help in monitoring and safeguarding you and your family’s identity, consider enrolling in ID Watchdog, an identity protection service that is available to Baird clients at a discounted rate. Reach out to your Baird Financial Advisor for more information.

This article was originally published in June 2019 and updated in July 2025.

The information offered is provided to you for informational purposes only. Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated is not a legal or tax services provider and you are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of the appropriate professional advisors before taking any action. The information reflected on this page are Baird expert opinions today and are subject to change. The information provided here has not taken into consideration the investment goals or needs of any specific investor and investors should not make any investment decisions based solely on this information. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. All investments have some level of risk, and investors have different time horizons, goals and risk tolerances, so speak to your Baird Financial Advisor before taking action.