How to spot a scam • Blisstech Solutions
Would you know how to recognise a scam? In the 21st century, you are highly unlikely to encounter a con artist in the street as they hide behind phones, text messages and emails.  But the motivations behind 21st-century fraudsters have not changed; they want to make easy money and don’t care how they do it.  The internet makes the market for fraud global, and criminals don’t even have to get out of their pyjamas to do it! In times of crisis, everyone has a heightened sense of danger, and hackers know this and will exploit it.  The COVID-19 virus has turned the world on its head and hackers are taking advantage of people’s fears.
Access to a massive and accessible pool of victims has turned fraud into a global business, defrauding UK citizens out of £110 billion a year (£3.23 trillion globally).   The “businesses” behind this fraud are well funded, highly organised and very good at what they do.
This may all sound very scary, but fortunately, there are lots of things you can do to ensure you don’t fall victim to these nefarious people.  Read on to learn how to spot a scam.

How to Spot a Scam – RULE NUMBER 1

Before I get onto the specific threats, there are two mantras to follow:
IF IT SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS!
IF IT SEEMS SUSPICIOUS, IT PROBABLY IS!
Now onto the specifics.

Email Scams (Phishing)

@ symbol with a hook through it

With email, it is very easy to reach a lot of people quickly, so there is more Phishing than any other type of scam.  The principle behind this is that criminals are ‘fishing’ for your details using email bait.  To do this they craft an email claiming to be from an organisation that tricks you into clicking a link to a web page that looks exactly like the real thing.  There you will be asked to enter certain personal and/or financial information that will be used to hack or defraud you.
If you get a phishing email, don’t click on any of the links and delete it.  However, they can be very hard to spot, so here are ways on how to spot a scam:
  1. If you are asked to confirm your personal information this is a red flag.  Genuine organisations will not ask you to do this.
  2. You will never be fined by the police over email!  This is a new one they are trying in the wake of the coronavirus restrictions.
  3. Spelling and grammar mistakes are a telltale sign of a phishing email.  These are not professional people and this will come across in the email.
  4. The email address or links do not look right.  If you get an email from an organisation the email address will reflect the organisation’s name; not gmail.com!  Also when you hover over a link in an email you will see where it is trying to take you, which should be the organisations real website.
  5. If the email was out of the blue and has an attachment beware.  The attachment may contain a virus which will could wreak havoc on your computer or steal your personal information.

Telephone Scams (Vishing)

There are many types of this fraud and usually they are easy to spot so you can just hang up.   However, some are convincing, so things to be aware of are:
  1. You will never be called by anyone to tell you they have detected a virus or problem on your computer.  The idea behind this one is they will trick you into thinking they have fixed a problem that was never there and then demand money for this ‘service’.
  2. Genuine organisations like banks and HMRC will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, password or bank details.  They may use fear tactics to trick you into making a payment over the phone to prevent further action.
  3. You will never be asked by your bank or the police to move your money to another account to protect it.  This is a scam and it has seen people lose thousands of pounds.  If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from the bank or the police telling you that you need to move money from your account as fraud has been detected hang up.  Then call your bank from a separate phone to report it.

SMS (text) Scams (Smishing)

man in a mask holding a laptop

Smishing scams are very similar in their approach to Phishing.  You will receive a text message from an organisation which usually requires urgent attention and have a link for you to click on.  The same principles apply for spotting these as for email scams.

What Should You Do?

For all of the above, if in doubt, contact the organisation that claims to have contacted you as they will know if this is legitimate or not.  If you are responding to a potential phone scam, make sure you use another telephone; in some cases the scammer will not hang up so you remain connected to them even if you try and dial another number.
Finally, if you do fall victim to fraud then report this to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

If you are a business owner and want to know how you can protect your business from these threats, please get in touch to see how we can help.

More Content

Take action to avoid a devious new phishing scam

Cyber criminals are getting smarter. This recent malware threat is unusually smart. It impersonates a highly trusted brand name to get a foot in the door.

Learn how to talk tech with our Jargon Buster

Do you find IT terminology difficult to comprehend? To ensure effective communication with our clients, we strive to avoid using technical jargon. However, having a basic understanding of some IT terminologies may prove advantageous in seeking IT assistance in the...
Metal work coming out of a metal apple

Do I need Antivirus on a Mac?

Broadly speaking there are two different types of desktop computer users; Windows users and Mac users (sorry Linux users but you are very much in the minority). Microsoft has included a free antivirus solution called Windows Defender for years because they realised...

Tech Tip: How to create a voting poll using Outlook

Welcome to a new Tuesday tech tip video where we will be exploring how to create a voting poll using Outlook and Microsoft Forms. Sometimes, when we need to get people's opinions on something, it can be a bit like herding cats! Maybe we need to get a consensus of...
Start it on your phone… finish it on your PC?

Start it on your phone… finish it on your PC with “Hand Off”

If you work on your phone while you’re on the move, it can be a hassle to find the right file once you’re back at your PC. Here we tell you about a cool new feature coming to Windows 11 that will help.

How to cheat (the Blue Screen of) Death

The Blue Screen of Death and how to avoid it

The dreaded Blue Screen of Death makes you panic about what happened, how much work you’ve lost, and how long it’ll take to fix. But a lot of the time it’s avoidable… We’ll tell you how.

Tech Tip: What is Autosave and Version History?

This is the latest Tuesday Two Minute Tech-tip that explains the AutoSave and Version History features of Office 365. When we migrate businesses to Microsoft 365 and they start working with OneDrive and SharePoint, I often hear the question, "How do I save my files...

Windows 11 Upgrade Requirements

The termination of support for Windows 10 by Microsoft in October 2025 means that business leaders need to plan for the transition to Windows 11, and this means understanding the Windows 11 upgrade requirements. Upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 is free, however,...
Save time by accessing your Android phone’s files with File Explorer

Save time by accessing your Android phone’s files with File Explorer

A new feature in Windows 11 may make accessing files on your Android phone much quicker. We have all the details.

Don’t Overlook Home Worker Security

Protecting Home Workers and Your Business In the current work-from-home landscape, business security strategies often overlook one crucial aspect: home office security. This oversight creates vulnerabilities that cybercriminals are actively exploiting. With more...
Share This
Contact
Love Lane
Cleobury Mortimer
Shropshire DY14 8PE

01299 382 321
[email protected]
Copyright © 2024 Blisstech Solution Ltd
Registered No: 08125391 VAT No : 307 5490 05