Smishing Scam
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and one new scamming method people need to be on the lookout for is “smishing.” The word smishing comes from a combination of S-M-S – another name for text messaging – and phishing. Scammers use text messages to try and steal people’s personal information. Matthew Wilson is vice president of risk and administration at Oregon Community Credit Union. He says fraudsters have a couple of different ways to scam people with smishing messages.
“Send you a message that is either going to ask you directly for information, send you to a website to have you put in information there or to deliver some malware payload onto your device.”
Wilson says the financial industry has seen a notable increase in smishing scams. The U-S Secret Service has also issued an alert that these types of scams are on the rise. Jessa Womack, information security manager at Oregon Community Credit Union, says the urgency conveyed in these messages can scare people into responding.
“Any message that you get that has an action item, just kind of take a deep breath, see if it makes sense to you. And you can always go directly to the website that you’re suspicious of something going on.”
Womack says there are a couple of ways people can protect themselves. She suggests folks enable multi-factor authentication for their financial accounts, so that logging in requires a password and either a text message or call.
Photo Contest Reminder
The Florence Area Chamber of Commerce is still accepting submissions for its annual coastal photo contest. Deadline for submitting you original, coastal themed photo is October 31st . The winner will receive a cash prize of $250.00. Photos must be taken within 25 miles of Florence to be eligible. Chamber President and CEO Bettina Hannigan says they are looking for outstanding amateur and professional photos to convey the coastal playground theme. The past 6 winners have been amateurs. For complete rules visit Florencechamber.com/ 2022photo contest.
Angler Education Program
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a training for individuals that would like to teach people how to fish. The Angler Education Program is designed to teach the components of a basic fishing event and how to organize one, teaching fishing basics like knot tying, casting, and rigging, interpreting regulations, water safety and more. The class will be on Saturday, October 22nd at Siuslaw Middle School from 9am until 2 pm. The certification will allow you to lead your own fishing classes and borrow equipment. Registration is limited to 20 individuals. Click on the link: https://odfwvolunteer.wufoo.com/forms/s1skljqx18tu6id/
Air Quality
The Air quality alert for the Florence Area has been lifted, but conditions in the valley are still degraded and are under an air quality alert through Friday of this week. Conditions along the coast are subject to change with the winds, but for now are good.