LATEST SCAM REPORTS NOVEMBER 2020
Scammers posing as IT departments, telecoms providers and banks are tricking victims into relinquishing control of their devices to hack into their accounts and steal sensitive data. One of the worst cases we came across resulted in a Which? member losing £80,000 after a ‘BT engineer’ phoned about service problems in the area. Her bank eventually agreed to refund the money but other victims of remote access fraud have been told their banks will not cover losses if they give access to their devices. Impersonation fraud shot up by 84% in the first half of 2020, with almost 15,000 reports and £58m lost, according to UK Finance. At a more granular level, Action Fraud says that it has received 14,893 ‘computer software service fraud’ reports between October 2019 and September 2020, with reported losses reaching around £16.5 million over that period. Yet the use of remote access software is not very well known – our survey of the general public in September 2020 found that four in 10 people have never heard of it, even though we had explained how these tools are misused by scammers to gain access to devices. What is remote access software? Remote access software enables you to use one device to access another from any location by downloading a smart phone app or installing a program on your computer. A simple passcode will then connect the two devices. Although many legitimate businesses use this technology, including the Which? Tech Support team, criminals also use it for nefarious purposes. Typically, you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from a known company (commonly impersonated firms include Amazon, BT and Microsoft), in which they try to convince you to grant them access to your device, claiming they will fix a spurious problem. Action Fraud recently reported that an Amazon Prime scam involving remote access software has cost victims over £400,000 in two months. Other scammers are sneakier still, directing you to websites where clicking on the various brand names downloads the software, although they would still need you to enter a code to connect to your device. Once they have access, they may put up a fake screen and work in the background to download other software or steal passwords and other personal data.
REF REVOLUT
The Revolut Google advert scam is back, helping criminals steal more than £67,000 off at least eight victims. Which? is concerned that both Google and Revolut aren’t doing enough to protect and warn users. Which? first reported a malicious Revolut advert to Google in March and again in May. A third advert has since materialised, aiming to trick users into calling a phone number answered by scammers impersonating the e-money firm. We’ve heard from eight victims who have each lost thousands of pounds after using the search engine to find a Revolut helpline. Revolut doesn’t operate telephone customer services – users must contact them via the app chatbot instead. Five days after we reported this latest example to Google, the advert was still live, although the homepage has since been changed to state ‘we are third party call connection service providers’ and ‘we have no ties to Revolut’. Here, Which? reveals the nasty tactics used by the fraudsters behind the scam. Google advert for a fake Revolut helpline Eight victims have contacted Which? about this scam after using Google to search for the ‘Revolut help desk’ or ‘Revolut customer services’ and clicking on the top result – a paid-for Google advert. We are aware of at least one advert, shown below, although there may be others. This directed users to a website, shown after, that uses Revolut branding and supplies an 0800 phone number to call.
Internet scams
Many internet scams take place without the victim even noticing. Scammers put programs on your computer that can steal, wipe or lock your data. To prevent this, have antivirus software and a firewall installed on your computer, and keep it up to date.
Take the precautions below and use common sense to avoid becoming a victim.
What you should know
Scammers defraud people using spam emails. Simply delete the email without opening or replying to it, otherwise the scammer will send you more and more emails from lots of different addresses.
Any email you get from someone you don’t know is likely to be spam, especially if it’s not addressed to you personally and promises you some kind of gain.
If you get an email with an attachment, apparently from someone you know, but it’s not the usual sort of message you get from them, don’t open the attachment. Contact the person who’s supposed to have sent it and confirm it’s genuine. The email may have been infected with a virus and forwarded through their address book.
Online marketplaces can be a lot of fun and can save you money but they’re also used by scammers. Scammers will try to steer you away from online sites and get you to use unusual payment methods, such as money transfer agents or e-money, a digital equivalent of cash.
The most common scams at the moment are for:
concert and event tickets
apartments, residential and holiday lettings
dating and romance
vehicles for sale or hire (especially if they deliver the hire vehicles to you)
Adverts and websites can be very sophisticated so do some research to make sure everything makes sense. Always think about your personal safety when meeting anyone you’ve only talked to on the internet.
Be careful of official-looking but bogus websites that claim to help you apply for passports, visas and driving licences.
There are lots of ways scammers gain personal or financial information from their victims, such as:
phishing, where an email that seems to be from a legitimate company asks you to give your personal details
vishing, where either an automated phone message or a cold-caller who seems to be from a legitimate company asks you for personal details
spear phishing, which focuses on an individual or department in an organisation; the email appears to come from a legitimate organisation
Using these methods, scammers ask for information such as login details and passwords, or install malware on your computer.
As a general rule, never give your personal or financial details to anyone unless you know and trust them.
Ten golden rules to prevent fraud
Remember these ten golden rules to help you prevent fraud and beat the scammers.
1.Be suspicious of all ‘too good to be true’ offers and deals. There are no guaranteed get-rich-quick schemes.
2.Don’t agree to offers or deals immediately. Insist on time to get independent or legal advice before making a decision.
3.Don’t hand over money or sign anything until you’ve checked someone’s credentials and their company’s.
4.Never send money to anyone you don’t know or trust, whether in the UK or abroad, or use methods of payment you’re not comfortable with.
5.Never give banking or personal details to anyone you don’t know or trust. This information is valuable so make sure you protect it.
6.Always log on to a website directly rather than clicking on links in an email.
7.Don’t just rely on glowing testimonials. Find solid, independent evidence of a company’s success.
8.Always get independent or legal advice if an offer involves money, time or commitment.
9.If you spot a scam or have been scammed, report it and get help. Contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at Action Fraud. Call us on 101 if you know the suspect or they’re still in the area. If you're deaf or hard of hearing, use our textphone service on 18001 101.
10.Don’t be embarrassed about reporting a scam. Because the scammers are cunning and clever there’s no shame in being deceived. By reporting it, you'll make it more difficult for them to deceive others.
FREE ANTIVIRUS RE MONEY SAVING EXPERT
https://www.moneysavinge...ree-anti-virus-software/