Honduras

You have entered the cyber-region of Central America:

**Honduras** You have a mission to learn about dealing with: **// Scams and Schemes //** = Your job, if you chose to accept this mission, is to complete as many **//'Activities'//** below that will allow you to earn up $20 American Dollars. Remember, to earn that many American dollars you will have to complete at least 2 (//two//) "Activities" = = //(Any extra completed activities will earn you upto $10 American Dollars per assignment)// =

** How to Catch a Phish **
**Do** you think identity thieves might try to get your information?

**Activity #1****:** **Define the** Key Vocabulary term **phishing**. Write up a scenario that might explain to someone what this word means as you have used it in your definition.

Post on your “Travel Logs” discussion tab titled; "Intellegence Activites" and title it “Phishing”.

**The** best way to avoid phishing scams is to be skeptical about any online request for personal information. It’s also good to be skeptical of online messages or posts from friends that seem out of character for them, which is a warning sign that their accounts have been hacked. There are clues that can help you spot phishing, and you will learn some of these in the next part of this lesson by studying one type of phishing scam**: __a phony email message__**. [Worth upto $5 American Dollars]

** F **** e **** a **** tu **** r **** e **** s of a Phishing Email **

** __Read__ ** the following **features** of a **Phishing Email** before you attempt your next mission below.

** Nee **** d to verify account information: ** Phony emails will try to trick you in to giving up accountinformation, passwords,or clicking on a phishing link, where you fill outinformation that identity thieves can collect and use. Usually what they’re asking for doesn’t make sense if you think aboutit, because they should already have that information!

** Sense of urgency: ** When the message says you only have a limited time to respond, it is often the sign of a **scam**.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">** Spellin **** g errors: ** <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Scam emails often include spelling and grammatical errors. A real company would not send out messages containing such errors.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">** Accoun **** t is in trouble: ** <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Identity thieves try to make you worry that something is wrong with your account, so you will feel you must immediately respond to the email to fix it.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">** Lin **** kin email or attachment: ** <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Phishing emails often have a link with in the email or an attachment that you are urged to click on. This link can lead you to a site or form where you (unknowingly) give your information to criminals. You should never respond to or click on links in such emails. Instead, go directly to the main website, and from there check your account.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">** T **** o **** o good to be true: ** <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Scam emails often offer things that are too good to be true, like the easy chance to win free money or prizes.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">** Generi **** c greeting: ** <span style="color: #231f20; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">You might see a generic greeting that does not personally address you. Reputable companies send emails where they address their customers by name.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">**Activity #****2:** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">This Activity will require you to find a **Partner**. Your partner can be from your class or someone you would like to ‘buddy-up’ with for this activity. If from class, each student will need to post the activity and add your partner’s name to your post to receive full credit. //(If you chose a partner in class, you can earn extra American Dollars, up to $10 for collaboration and completing the assignment together)//

<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">Download and print the [|9-12-security-scamsandschemes-spottingscams-handout.pdf] and complete it. You must write up your findings in the discussion area within your “Travel Logs” under Intellegence Activities and title the post, “Spotting Scams”.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">// (Directions: Eac //// h of the following email messages is an example of a phishing scam. Read the features of a phishing email below.Then circle or highlight any examples of those features in each of the three messages. List the features in the blank spaces provided, and draw a line connecting each feature to the part of the email it relates to.) // <span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 16px;">[Worth upto $10 American Dollars]