- The UK’s cybersecurity agency, the National Cyber Security Centre, has recently confirmed that it has taken down more scams in the last year than in the previous three years combined.
- One of the phishing and smishing (emails and SMS respectively) attacks being deployed most regularly involves cybercriminals posing as the World Health Organization (WHO). These messages are often very short and to the point, asking the recipient to click on a link to a PDF that offers advice on how to stay safe during the outbreak.
- Another tactic employed by cybercriminals is scam calls.
- Cybercriminals target the public with automated calls to tell them that a fraudster has used their personal details to sign up for an Amazon Prime subscription. The victim is then instructed to press 1 to cancel the transaction.
- However, when they do this, they can be directly connected to the real scammer, who poses as an Amazon customer service representative. The victim is then pressured to download a sharing application like Team Viewer and is then asked to log onto their online banking account to fix a security flaw to prevent someone from accessing their Amazon Prime subscription.
- There are some signs to watch out for if you think you are being scammed. Firstly, be wary of unsolicited emails and an urgent tone.
- If you fear you are being scammed, you should check the website address and scour through the site to confirm it is genuine. A good idea is to circumvent any link to a site that you have been sent and find the website manually yourself to make sure that you are using the legitimate one. You should also ensure that you use robust passwords – which should be changed frequently – and, just as importantly, keep your computers, mobile phones and tablets up to date with the latest updates and antivirus software to help protect you and block you from visiting websites that have been reported for phishing or malware problems.
– Aman Johal – May 31, 2021
