Internet scams

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:

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:

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.

For more information and help or to report on this and many other types of fraud, visit Report Fraud, the UK’s national cyber crime and fraud reporting service.