Beware of scams these holidays! The best prices could cost you more than you know...
/
Christmas has passed and hopefully for most people, their Christmas shopping was completed safely and all that’s left is to clean up and prepare for New Years Eve.
Where did you do most of your shopping this year? Did you brave the shopping mall crowds and get it all done in one day? Or are you one to do most of your shopping online, getting it all done in a couple clicks and then all you have to do is wait for the packages to arrive.
Sometimes our best intentions are met with malicious intentions…
Email, text and phone scams are rampant as we hit Black Friday and keep going long into the Holiday Season.
Email scammers have been around for many years are never seem to take a break. Our email clients are getting better and better at detecting fishy emails and pushing them to our Junk/Spam folder but they don’t always get it right. Emails that are valid/legit make their way into the Spam folder if the company sends to many emails to you and phishing come from a well designed email and are designed to get around the filter and still make it’s way to your inbox. These holidays, misleading and fake emails claiming the best deals at stores you may frequent, postage/recall issues that are phishing for your information are likely to be the ones you’ll see hit your inbox.
Text scams are becoming more prominent with us being attached to our phones and texting more than calling. What would normally come in an email, now has been shrunk down and minimised to be a short and sweet text. There’s no need to design an email that looks legit and draw you in, they just use a short message and a believable link. See the two examples below. The websites you see once you click through are what the scammers have put the most work into. They have tried to make something look as convincing as possible.
Phone scams are the oldest of the bunch. Robocalls are the most common as they can be recorded once and then all you have to do is spoof a phone number and hit play. A commonly known Robocall that is going around is a recorded message posing as the Australian Tax Office. The age old version of a phone scam however are those unknown numbers or private numbers calling, claiming to be from Microsoft or similar companies needing to speak to you. They may claim to see an issue on your computer and they want to help you fix it but that will likely result in them leading you to downloading malware among other malicious things.
What can we do to stay safe?
Always answer phone calls from numbers that don’t look familiar or are of an odd format with caution. If the phone call is important, they will leave a message or call you back. If you do find that there is another person on the other end of the line and things aren’t making sense, ask as many questions as you feel need answering, even if they are simple. Most scammers have scripts to stick too but if you ask a lot of questions, they can get frustrated and go off script or potentially even hang up on you.
Never click links in text messages from numbers you don’t know or companies you didn’t expect a text message from. If someone has logged into your online bank portal, your bank will likely email you or they will use your first and last name in their communication attempt. If you’re still suspicious, log-in yourself and you will likely see a message about the attempt. If not, there’s no harm in changing your password and making sure you have Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled if it’s offered.
If you find your are getting multiple phone scams, make sure you have signed up to the ‘Do Not Call Register’. It may not stop all the calls but it will certainly reduce them. If you find that someone is posing as a government agency or business, report the phone call and all details you can remember to the actual company. They are always interested in information about people posing as their company and department as then they are able to take steps to keep customers and their data safe.
For any of these scams, you are able to report them to the ACCC as well at their ScamWatch website here - https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam. Your information will help them spread the word to companies and other Australians about the malicious activity happening this holiday season.
Stay safe, stay cool and have a Happy New Year!