Scams are now sadly a part of everyday life, with fraudsters taking advantage of people’s trusting nature on a daily basis, and although most people are aware that scams exist, not everyone will know how to protect themselves from the many frauds and scams that are out there.
We’ve recently taken reports of scams involving phone calls from staff claiming to work for Amazon, with news of purchases that you most likely haven’t made and a helpful offer to rectify any errors by means of accessing your computer and extracting your personal details.
Shipment tracking emails telling you, you’ve missed a parcel delivery with instructions to click on a link that will probably compromise your computer’s security.
Or a call from a bogus security team member requesting access to your computer so they can stop your Google account being ‘hacked’, ultimately giving access to your personal details.
Every week new ways to scam you are being thought up, whether they be online, by telephone or even sometimes by letter. Fraud is big business and we may think of a lone person at the end of the phone trying their luck, but many of these scams have huge operations behind them with hundreds of ‘staff’ working to scam you out of your hard earned savings.
Our message is clear, be vigilant, be aware. Never give out your personal details to anyone. No bank or legitimate company will ask you for these. You will never be asked by your bank to move funds into another account and an internet company will never call you out of the blue to request access to your computer.
Never click on links you’ve been sent in emails. Never stay on the phone to be transferred to your bank if you’ve been called unexpectedly. Always hang up and call your bank on a trusted number.
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t be fooled by promises of huge windfalls or prizes you’ve won, if you have to pay to collect them.
We know we can’t stop scam attempts but we can stop the devastating after effects if we just educate ourselves about how to stay safe.
Plenty of online advice can be found at www.getsafeonline.org , www.actionfraud.police.uk and www.fraudprevention.je
#BeSafe #BeScamAware
