06/11/2020
Phishing scams are extremely common and, sadly, many thousands of people fall victim to these scams.
An example of these is the email I received yesterday, informing me of a COVID grant I was due.
Now, much as I could really do with some extra funds right now, I knew that I am not eligible for a grant related to the pandemic. I'm not a self-employed individual and am not in receipt of any state benefits.
The email purports to have come from 'UK GOV Grant', but if you check the email behind the 'name', you will see that it clearly is not coming from the UK government.
Some might, especially if there financial position is troubled, look at the domain and decide that it shows a government domain and might just be real. However, it really isn't.
Always check the actual email address, the full domain, and don't just click on links without ensuring that the message is definitely genuine.
Messages from government departments, utility providers, banks and other financial institutions will usually NOT ask you to click on a link in the email. Such messages would generally ask you to go directly to their website, or use an official App, to log on and access any information.
Whilst investment in advance security systems allowed UK financial firms to prevent more than £1.8 billion of fraudulent activity, criminals still managed to steal over £1.2 billion through fraud and scams in 2019. The numbers are significant.
So, it is essential that people increase their awareness and protect themselves against online fraud. I have attached a link (click on image below) to The Little Book of Big Scams.
Comentários