Scam Awareness Presentation

Mike Colvin, CEO Home Instead

Notes

The number of Scams and attempted Scams is increasing:

  • 2024 – £11.4 billion lost;
  • only 33% of crimes are reported;
  • Scams accounts for 40% of all UK crime;
  • £2,300 lost to Scams every minute;
  • on one occasion, scammers sent out one email; 22.00 victims replied and sent the scammers £500,0000 – in one day!

Older people are often targeted because:

  • they are retired and are likely to be in when contact is made;
  • they are likely to own property and have life savings
  • they may well live alone;
  • they may be more likely to make hasty, poor decisions

But 66% of people aged 16-29 have been scammed!

 

Scam Phone calls

  • impersonate Police, Bank, Government Departments;
  • impersonate Microsoft and other IT providers’

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS):

  • is free;
  • will cut nuisance calls, including telemarketing and unsolicited sales calls;
  • can be set up by calling 0345 0707007 or contacting www.tpsonline.org.uk
  • calls can be reported to the number above or to  tps@dma.org.uk

But it does not block:

  • automated, mass computer generated mass calls;
  • international fraudulent calls.

Remember, a bank will never:

  • ask for your One-Time Passcode; your PIN; your bank Password, including asking you to tap details into the phone;
  • ask you to transfer your money to a “safe account”
  • ask you to verify any bank related details;
  • send a courier to collect money, cards, cheque books;
  • ask you to participate in an anti-fraud investigation in which you need to withdraw money;
  • if you receive a phone call from an unknown source and the person ringing doesn’t speak immediately, don’t say anything in the pause.

Don’t:

  • get involved in conversations – beware of voice recognition cloning;
  • respond to the suggestion that you ring your bank immediately to verify that the call is genuine. Scammers may not have hung up in which case your call will go to them and not to the bank;
  • 159 contacts to the banks’ fraud line.

 

Text Scams

Read texts carefully and look out for:

  • odd spelling and grammar;
  • “official messages” from unknown mobile numbers;
  • Impersonal messages

 

Phishing

Any attempt to trick victims into sharing sensitive information such as Credit card and bank details. They are:

  • not personalised;
  • not aimed at a specific person;
  • sent out in mass.

Remember, if for example HMRC send you a message, without including your name, saying that you a re due a tax refund, you aren’t and HMRC didn’t.

 

Spear Phishing

This is more sophisticated, more targeted and more difficult to spot. Messages may include your name.

Remember:

  • scammers can send an automated message to thousands of email addresses at the same time; if the message is sent to Charlie, some of the recipients will be named Charlie and some of them may fall for it
  • if you receive a message about good fortune that seems too good to be true, it is;
  • if you receive a message about something really bad that has happened, it probably hasn’t

 

Social Media

Golden rule to protect yourself:

  • set your account setting to Private

 

Email Scams

  • anything that looks official, but is addressed to “Dear Customer” or something similar or not addressed at all, isn’t what it seems
  • never click on a link in an unknown or suspicious email.
  • Amazon, Netflix, TV Licencing do not send out emails asking you to make payment because of a difficulty with your membership” or something similar

 

Doorstep Scams

Even in an electronic age these still occur.

Beware:

  • the passing trader who has noticed something wrong with your property;:
  • police officers wanting to take your money or bank cards away to keep them safe from fraud;
  • people seeking help – wanting to use the toilet or phone or who feel unwell;
  • someone offering a huge discount if you buy something now!

 

Parking Scams

Look out for false QR codes posted up in car parks. Scammers may have pasted a fake QR code sticker over the legitimate QR code, which will link to a fraudulent site

 

Computer Scams

67% of all fraud in the UK in 2024 (5.15 million cases) were compute linked.

  • install anti-virus software and a firewall;
  • don’t allow a stranger to access your computer externally;
  • use strong passwords – upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters;
  • don’t use dates of birth or anything similar
  • don’t use the same password for more than one application.
  • If you keep a book of passwords, try encrypting your passwords – e.g. if your password is 1@Rm#9//gPZ, put a rogue character in after every third letter 1@R9m#9X//gP@Z (not in colour of course) only you will know which characters are the password and which are the dummies.

Remember

The padlock symbol means the web page you are visiting is secure

 

Where to get help

Police Fraud Line 03001232040  www.reportfraud.police.uk

Citizens Advice 08082231133 www.citiensadvice.org.uk

Banks direct contact to bank fraud by dialling 159

Emails forward fake emails to report@phishing.gov.uk

Texts forward scam texts to 7726

Hampshire Alert www.hampshirealert.co.uk

 

 

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