Following a flurry of email scams targeting business owners in the town of Old Saybrook, the Old Saybrook Police Department issued a notice on November 4th, warning of the dangers of these email scams. In the statement, the Old Saybrook Police Department said, “The scam involves fake invoices that appear to come from the Town of Old Saybrook or one of its departments.”.
The police department issued the warning to the public via Facebook post, advising Old Saybrook residents and business owners targeted by these scams to be aware of emails claiming to be from town officials and containing invoices. The warning issued additionally states “The scam targets individuals who may have legitimate business with the town, such as zoning or permit applications.”. These scams can pose a real risk to business owners and the people of Old Saybrook, as they often look very deceiving and can easily be mistaken for official messages and business with the town.
According to school resource Officer Joseph Popovich, the email scams happening are not new to the town of Old Saybrook, but recently have been growing and becoming more prominent. “I know they have been going on for many years,” he said, “They seem to be increasing, and a lot of people are falling victim”. The email scams usually are from people posing to be town officials, and are legitimate looking invoices, but make people share sensitive information and/or pay a sum of money to the criminals sending them. Popovich says his main priority and focus is the school, but cybercriminals have been targeting schools with ransomware and dangerous cybercrime in other districts, and says that business owners and people should remain careful when opening email links from the state or anyone, because doing so could put yourself and the school system at risk. Popovich says that he and the other officers at the police department make people aware of scams like these and other cybercrime threats through methods like Facebook and the official Old Saybrook website.
Brian Cordova, a local high school student at Old Saybrook High School said the rise in scams shows the need for stronger digital and scam awareness. Cordova encouraged the older generations who have already graduated to go back and learn about media literacy. “The younger generation is quite aware and have grown up to learn about digital safety. Our parents didn’t get that, our seniors didn’t get that,” Cordova said.
