What scams should you look out for?
According to Ofcom adults in the UK spend over 20 hours of their spare time on the internet a week. It takes just a moment to get scammed.
Fake order confirmation emails
Fake Amazon and iTunes order confirmation emails are a common scam. You receive an email which looks identical to the normal order confirmations but is for something that you haven’t ordered. It is quite possible that you would click the link in the email to request a refund, however, the link will take you to a page where is requests some of your details. These details can be used to steal from you.
Amazon says, “The best way to ensure that you do not respond to a false or phishing e-mail is to always go directly to your account on Amazon to review or make any changes to your orders or your account.”
You can report a false or phishing email to stop-spoofing@amazon.com. There is also a video to help you identify whether an email is from Amazon.
Paypal
Be wary if you receive an email with the subject line “Unusual activity on your PayPal account”, if you do receive an email like this then do not click any links in the email. Instead you should go to your web browser and login to the PayPal site to check the settings.
WhatsApp
These are likely to come from what looks like a legitimate contact in your phone. The message is often bragging about a gift card giveaway by a familiar company. The link in the message will also look legitimate but the link could contain a malicious software download.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is new to the scene: it’s Facebook’s take on Ebay. The danger on Facebook Marketplace is being duped by individuals advertising items, requesting payment via methods other than PayPal and then never delivering the goods. Leaving you without the protection of PayPal.
HM Revenue & Customs and iTunes
Scammers have been using HM Revenue and Customs to scam people for as long as internet scams have existed. One of the lastest ones is to say that the email recipient has large debts and recommend that they pay off the fake debts and taxes by using iTunes gift cards.
If you are worried about anything mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to contact us on 023 8024 9820 or info@itcweb.co.uk
You can report any fraud, attempted fraud or cyber crime by going to www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud
Information from Shop on Amazon, chat on WhatsApp or use PayPal? Watch out for these scams
