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Issue No. 124December 2022

Holiday Scams – Tis the Season to be Wary

The Holiday season brings with it many traditions—families gather together to cook and enjoy each other’s company, meals are made, gifts exchanged; and attempts by scammers to separate you from your hard-earned money go through the roof. Below, we’ll outline some yuletide tips and tricks to keep you and yours safe online throughout the holiday season.

Social Engineering scams are some of the simplest to perpetuate, and consequently increase greatly in volume this time of year. This can take the form of a call placed to your relative, telling them that they have to pay a sum of money to repair issues the scammer has ‘identified’ with their computer. The scammer will often impersonate some authority figure—the government, Microsoft, etc., in order to lend additional credence to their claims. There will also be an appeal to a sense of urgency, the idea being to get the target to act quickly, rather than think of what is being asked. If you believe that a member of your family might be vulnerable to a scam of this type, its good to develop some ground rules. One simple method to mitigate scams of this nature is to have a standing order for a phone call to be made to someone trustworthy in the family to check the veracity of the caller’s claims before any money changes hands.

Additional scams intended to take advantage of the holiday season also skyrocket this time of year. These might include scams on Facebook Marketplace (usually where the scammer is posing as a seller of something that does not exist, or as a buyer that wants to provide payment in a seemingly convoluted manner). Since most folks are out looking to buy, rather than sell, this time of year, most scammers are going to be focused on the former. Most of the flags one should look out for here are the same ‘smell test’ type items that one should look out for any time you’re purchasing something from a private seller. Is the cost too good to be true? Is the seller asking you to jump through seemingly unreasonable hoops, like sending money ahead of time? Is the seller the only person with some extremely hard-to-find item available? All these can be red flags for a scam.

Similar to scams perpetuated on Facebook Marketplace, Zelle scams or Paypal scams also increase dramatically this time of year. Many times, these take the form of money suddenly being send, the receiver being told this was in error and asked to re-transmit the money to the sender. The problem here, is that the money never existed in the first place, and one banks finish sorting the transaction out, the only person that is out any capital is the good Samaritan who sent the cash back. If you or a friend or relative are on the receiving end of a scam of this type, the best thing to do is contact support for the service itself (Zelle or Paypal) and ask them how to proceed. If the charge was truly in error, its best to let them reverse it, rather than potentially be a victim of a scam.

Last, and certainly not least, we would be remiss if we did not include the KTS Holiday Gift Guide! All the gifts we’ve outlined below can be had for under $50, and are sure to bring a smile to even the grinchiest among us. In no particular order, we present, the KTS 2022 Holiday Gift Guide!

  1. A highly flexible and affordable Smart Plug: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/tp-link-kasa-smart-wi-fi-plug-slim-ep25p4
  2. The most unobtrusive way to talk to Google: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/google-nest-mini
  3. The best affordable streaming device: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/chromecast-with-google-tv-hd
  4. The best AirTag alternative: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/tile-pro
  5. Affordable Pet Tracking: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/tractive-gps-dog-lte-tracker

There you have it folks! As we bring 2022 to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank our team, our clients, and our wonderful San Diego community for another wonderful year. Here’s wishing you peace, joy, and prosperity in the New Year!

Testimonials

Testimonials

“We’re building a solid IT foundation to be able to go where we need to be for growth and success. I couldn’t be more pleased with KTS’s performance and progress on our IT Projects.”

Shawn Ellis, CFO Custom Logos

Testimonials

“Both company email migrations have were completed without a problem. Thanks to your team both transitions went smooth.Everyone with your group are both knowledgeable and professional, and you should be proud of the organization you are building.”

John Sonnen, IT & Security Director Child Safety Network

Testimonials

“We have been using KTS for our IT support for about a year now, and we are very pleased with the service we have received. Chris has been our first line person, and has been able to resolve issues quickly, and often remotely, which helps reduce costs. Our staff has really appreciated his fast response and resolution to the issues that have come up. We have also appreciated that there are other folks at KTS who can fill in if Chris is out. Thanks to all!”

Suzy Halleland, Executive Administrator Village Church

Testimonials

“I think you know we have been very happy with your service and are very grateful to have been referred to you guys. But on a more personal note, I want you to know that Kevin in your office has provided a service for us that is way over the top.”

Jeff Golumbuk, CEO Custom Logos

Testimonials

“I just wanted to thank you and your staff for the excellent service and work provided by KTS.  It has been night and day compared to our old third party IT consultant.”
Nick Walters, VP Project Management West Coast General Corp.

Testimonials

“I wanted to let you know that I am absolutely delighted with the service we have received from you and your team so far. I know we put you in a tough position with such short notice of having to jump in and take over, and we really appreciated that. But there are many other reasons as well. First, I’m so glad they discovered the hard drive problem right away, as that could have caused us a huge issue as you well know. Second, everyone that I’ve had the pleasure to work wi… Read more
Jo Barsa, CPA Barsa & Company

Testimonials

“Kazmarek is fantastic!  I’ve used every size of IT company over the past 20 years and Kazmarek is by far superior to all I’ve used.  We are extremely happy with their service and expertise.  One of the things I like most about them is that they have engineers available to respond to our prioritized needs but they also wanted to give us the best customer service possible so they went above and beyond and put in place an escalation plan so that if I feel the response time i… Read more
Marisa Janine-Page, Partner Caldarelli Hejmanowski Page & Leer LLP

Testimonials

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Kazmarek team through the years! They are responsive and have a great team to work with, whether it’s day-to-day IT needs or special projects. ”
KC Martin, HR Director Full Swing Golf

Testimonials

“As a local San Diego business, we were looking to partner with another local business after our IT needs just weren’t being met with a nationwide provider. We could not be happier with our decision since KTS has been very swift, attentive, and collaborative with our IT needs over the past three years. Their engineers, support desk, and managers are patient and able to effectively communicate issues and solutions to a layperson which speaks volumes about their hiring and customer… Read more
Carrie Lamb, Project Manager Chuao Chocolatier

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