Common Way of Online Scams
Being alert to online scam messages is a great way to protect yourself online. These ‘scammers’ may try to compromise your business, home, workplace, or university, school accounts.
Scammers often use email, text messages, phone calls, and social media. However, their goal is to scam people into paying money or giving away their personal information. Therefore, they will often pretend to be a person or organization you trust. The world of online scams is evolving in new and dangerous ways.
ACCC calls for a united front as scammers steal over $3bn from Australians.
The latest Targeting Scams report has revealed Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, as government, law enforcement, and the private sector look to improve collaborative efforts to support the community in the fight against scams. This is an 80 percent increase in total losses recorded in 2021.
The report compiles data reported to the ACCC’s Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), IDCARE, and other government agencies.
Common things scammers do to trick you!
Authority
A message claiming to be from someone official:
Like your bank, a government department, a utility company, your doctor, or a solicitor. Criminals pretend to be important people or organizations to trick you into doing what they want.
Urgency
You are told you have a limited time to respond:
For example, ‘within 24 hours’ or ‘immediately’. Criminals often threaten you with fines or other negative consequences.
Emotion
The message makes you panic, fearful, hopeful, or curious:
Scammers use threatening language, make false claims of support, or tease you into wanting to find out more.
Scarcity
The message offers something that seems too good to be true:
Like concert tickets, money, or a cure for medical conditions? Fear of missing out on a good deal or opportunity can make you respond quickly.
An older Australian, you’re more likely to be scammed
Unfortunately, that area is in losses to scammers, with the ACCC noting that Australians aged 65 or more lost at least $120 million to scams in 2022 alone. Comparatively, the 18-24 age bracket saw losses of $16 million. Neither figure is good of course, but that’s quite the difference. https://www.scamwatch.gov.au
Top tips for avoiding scams
- Stop – take your time before giving money or personal information.
- Think – ask yourself if the message or call could be fake.
- Protect – act quickly if something feels wrong. Contact your bank and report scams to Scamwatch.
How to protect yourself from common online scams
A good password management app can help in this regard.
Consider two-factor authentication for every account that can take it. A trusted device is an iOS device, iPadOS device, or a Mac on which you’ve signed in with your developer Apple ID using two-factor authentication. It’s a device we know is yours and can be used to verify your identity by displaying a verification code from Apple when you sign in.
A trusted phone number can be used to receive verification codes by text message or automated phone call. You must verify at least one trusted phone number to enroll in two-factor authentication. This can be any type of phone number you use.
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How to turn off Facebook activity? - MyMac Computer
June 4, 2023[…] Your identity and personal information shared online or on FaceBook could be dangerous. Scammers probably collect data from FaceBook and target you to get financial benefits or collect personal information for advertising. Make sure you protect your privacy online and do not share too much on Facebook. You can also read details about scammers on our other blog page: https://mymaccomputer.com.au/common-way-of-online-scams/ […]