What do you think when you hear about Phishing Scams?
Unfortunately this has nothing to do with Fish, Bait or Rods and spending a great time out in the boat.!!
It’s all about criminals who don’t want to do honest work for a living.
How does this scam work?
A scammer contacts you pretending to be from a legitimate business such as a bank, telephone or internet service provider. You may be contacted by email, social media, phone call, or text message.
The scammer asks you to provide or confirm your personal details. For example, the scammer may say that the bank or organisation is verifying customer records due to a technical error that wiped out customer data. Or, they may ask you to fill out a customer survey and offer a prize for participating.
Alternatively, the scammer may alert you to ‘unauthorised or suspicious activity on your account’. You might be told that a large purchase has been made in a foreign country and asked if you authorised the payment. If you reply that you didn’t, the scammer will ask you to confirm your credit card or bank details so the ‘bank’ can investigate. In some cases the scammer may already have your credit card number and ask you to confirm your identity by quoting the 3 or 4 digit security code printed on the card.
Phishing messages are designed to look genuine, and often copy the format used by the organisation the scammer is pretending to represent, including their branding and logo. They will take you to a fake website that looks like the real deal, but has a slightly different address. For example, if the legitimate site is ‘www.realbank.com.au’, the scammer may use an address like ‘www.reallbank.com’.
If you provide the scammer with your details online or over the phone, they will use them to carry out fraudulent activities, such as using your credit cards and stealing your money.
Other types of phishing scams
Whaling and spear phishing – the scammer targets a business in an attempt to get confidential information for fraudulent purposes. To make their request appear legitimate, they use details and information specific to the business that they have obtained elsewhere.
Pharming – the scammer redirects you to a fake version of a legitimate website you are trying to visit. This is done by infecting your computer with malware which causes you to be redirected to the fake site, even if you type the real address or click on your bookmarked link.
Protect yourself
Do not click on any links or open attachments from emails claiming to be from your bank or another trusted organisation and asking you to update or verify your details – just press delete.
Do an internet search using the names or exact wording of the email or message to check for any references to a scam – many scams can be identified this way.
When you mouse over(Hold your mouse steady) over a link in an email or Webpage it will show you down in the Taskbar the address you will be taken to when you actually Click.
Look carefully at this address and see if it starts with the address where you are supposedly meant to be taken.
Example: If you hover over this link below you should see the address as https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/
If you hover over this link of INTO COMPUTERS it will take you to a site that has nothing to do with Computers but is all about Square Meater Cattle.
This is a harmless link just to show you how to determine where the link will take you. Oakvale Square Meaters is a site Into Computers designed and built.
If you hover over the INTO COMPUTERS link at the bottom of this page you will see it takes you to this site you are viewing now. https://intocomputers.com.au
Acknowledgement and thanks are given to the Governments Website Scamwatch for the above information.
If you would like to know more about Scams click this safe link below.
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/
If you think you have fallen victim to a scam, unplug your computer and call Mark at INTO COMPUTERS 0407 376 475 for advice on resolving your issue.