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Scams don’t always look obvious anymore. The spelling is clean, the logo is right and the voice on the phone might sound like someone you love.
 
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a good excuse to slow down and check the habits that keep your home safe.
 
Check Before You Click
 
A glance at an email used to be enough to catch a scam, with misspelled words, funny email addresses, and incorrect logos. Not anymore. Email scams are more sophisticated, and now it takes an actual read and asking whether something’s rushing you to act before you’ve had time to think.
 

• Check the full email address or phone number, not the name attached to it. If you’re not sure if a call or email is real, hang up and call the person directly, or start a new email to an address you already trust.

• Don’t scan a QR code from a message, flyer or package you weren’t expecting. The FBI has warned about scam packages that show up with a QR code inside, counting on you being curious enough to scan it.
• If a caller, text or email message claims to be your bank, open your banking app or type the web address yourself instead of tapping/typing a link they give you.

 
 
Two Steps to Better Security
 
A password used to be enough to keep your accounts secure. It isn’t anymore, and most accounts now offer at least one more layer of security for free.
 

• Turn on two-factor authentication for your email and your bank accounts first. Those two unlock everything else.
• Then, turn it on for every other account tied to personal identifying information or your payment methods.
• Never read a sign-in code out loud to someone who called you. That call is the scam. Hang up and report it.

 
 
Hearing Isn’t Believing Anymore
 
AI has made scammers more convincing, with the Federal Trade Commission warning that a voice can be cloned with AI from a short clip of audio, and a face can be faked on a video call. Hang up and call your loved one directly to verify the person before you react to the story.
 

• Hang up and call back on a number you already have saved, not the one the caller gives you.
• Agree on a family code word and ask for it any time a call involves money or an emergency.

• No real agency or business asks to be paid in gift cards. Wire transfers and cryptocurrency work the same way. If someone says that’s the only way to pay, that’s a scam in the works.

 
 
Update Now for Safety Later
 
Updates close doors criminals already know how to open. Back up anything you couldn’t stand to lose before you install an update.
 

• Turn on automatic updates for your phone, computer, and TV, including firmware on connected devices like your router and smart speakers.

• Change the default password on your router, cameras, and smart doorbell.
• Real updates come from your device settings, never from a pop-up warning that you’re already infected.

• If you lease your router from Valley TeleCom, this part is already handled. We push updates to our routers, so the device your whole house depends on stays current without you thinking about it. Learn more at vtc.net/homeconnect or call 800-421-5711.

 
None of this takes long, and none of it asks you to become a different kind of person online. Check the sender, double up on your logins, verify the voice, and keep your software current. That’s what staying two steps ahead looks like, this month and every month after it.