When John Lantigua, a retired journalist in Miami Beach, checked his email one recent morning, he was glad to see an invitation. “It was like, ‘Come and share an evening with me. Click here for details,’” Mr. Lantigua said.
It appeared to be an invitation from someone he once worked with at The Palm Beach Post, a man who had left Florida for Mississippi and liked to arrange dinners when he was back in town. Mr. Lantigua, 78, clicked the link. It didn’t open. He clicked a second time. Still nothing.
He didn’t realize what was going on until a mutual friend who had received the same email told him it wasn’t an invitation at all. It was a scam.
Phishing scams have long tried to frighten people into clicking on links with emails claiming that their bank accounts have been hacked, or that they owe thousands of dollars in fines, or that their pornography viewing habits have been tracked.
The invitation scam is a little more subtle: It preys on the all-too-human desire to be included in social gatherings. The phishy invitations mimic emails from Paperless Post, Evite and Punchbowl.
What appears to be a friendly overture from someone you know is really a digital Trojan horse that gives scammers access to your personal information. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
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