We’re all online now! The pandemic forced many of us to flock online like never before. While we were all logging on, the “baddies” as my son calls them were watching…
How they get you.
According to the Office for National Statistics last year, In 63% of fraud incidents, there had been no contact between the victim and the offender; the most common methods of contact were online or by email (14%) or by telephone (11%).
In 76% of fraud incidents, the victim incurred a financial loss and of these, the majority of victims (58%) lost less than £250. No-one is immune to online fraud, it can come at us from many angles.
• Account takeover
• Advance fee frauds
• Bank card and cheque fraud
• Business directory fraud
• Business opportunity fraud
• Charity donation fraud
• Clairvoyant or psychic scams
• Click fraud
• Domain name scams
• Fraud recovery fraud
• Government agency scams
• Health scams
• Holiday fraud
• Identity fraud
• Inheritance fraud
• Internet auction fraud
• Internet dialler scam
• Investment fraud and land banking scams
• Loan scams
• Lottery scams
• Mass marketing fraud
• Miracle health scams
• Money muling
• Online shopping fraud
• Plastic card fraud
• Rental fraud
• Romance scams
• Vehicle matching scams
• West African or 419 scam
• Work from home scams
How they’ve tried to get us…
Below is an actual email from one of our trustees concerning how we as an organisation have been targeted.
I’ve done a review of the emails received by UKMSA and come across some alarming problems.
We’ve received a demand from British Gas, amount due $167.89, yup that’s in US dollars.
76% of fraud incidents, the victim incurred a financial loss
We’ve received an email from HMRC re unsuccessful submission for Reference 037/AZ87502 – that’s a PAYE reference number (but not ours). We’ve also received a demand from HMRC for £23,831.64 which does not specify what it is for but at least there is a helpful link so I can pay it to avoid court action.
Suppliers chasing us include an invoice from RF 24hr Fleet Assist Ltd, £410.50 and an invoice from Bandai Aamco Entertainment Uk Ltd for £7,438.91. Meanwhile Bamboo Web Development Ltd have sent us a credit note for £2,897.89, how nice.
Apparently our Sage subscription invoice is ready to view online which is funny because so is our Xero subscription, we don’t use either and I’m not in the business of keeping two sets of accounts.
all these emails have one thing in common, they are phishing scams designed to trick you into either paying or more worryingly to hand over information which can then be used to access our accounts.
We’ve got a “secure email message” from RBS to access, er no thanks we don’t bank with you.
Somehow Indeed, the best network recruitment, have processed our payment £269.03 for Invoice 16225070 a stunt which MDR Rail Ltd also claim to have performed by charging £477.00 to our credit card. UKMSA does not have any credit cards.
Please be fraud aware, if you receive any emails which you are uncertain about do not click on any links. “
And now our admin mailbox is apparently full; please follow this link to login to your email account. Let me think about this for a minute, I follow a link to a web page of dubious provenance and enter our UKMSA admin email address and password… what could possibly go wrong?
Of course all these emails have one thing in common, they are phishing scams designed to trick you into either paying or more worryingly to hand over information which can then be used to access our accounts. These emails attempt to alarm, look official and offer solutions. Many are so bad few will fall for them but some can be quite convincing. Action Fraud is warning the public to remain vigilant as victims report losing £242,000 to criminals purporting to be from parcel delivery company DPD since June 2020.
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/alert/fake-dpd-messages-lead-to-over-200000-in-losses-since-june
The danger with the mailbox full email is that most of you will not know what size your mail box is. That might throw you off your guard. Please be fraud aware, if you receive any emails which you are uncertain about do not click on any links. “
PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT ONLINE SAFETY!
Here are some places you can get yourself up to speed. #saferinternetday