Be Safe: Be Scam Aware

If you receive phone calls, letters, texts or emails from contacts you don’t know, you’re best off ignoring them. The same goes for anyone who knocks on your door and cannot provide valid identification.

 

Details about your bank account, your date of birth or National Insurance number can be used to steal your identity and access accounts.

 

If you have a smartphone, you should be able to block unknown numbers from calling you. You can also sign-up for a call blocking service, such as the Telephone Preference Service, which will prevent cold-callers from contacting you.

 

Keep the anti-virus software on your phone, laptop or tablet up-to-date. Always install updates, as these can protect you against new kinds of scams and viruses automatically.

 

Don’t use the same password for multiple online accounts, and be sure that your passwords include a mix of numbers, upper and lower case letters and symbols. If you can, change your passwords frequently.

 

Ensure any company you are buying from – whether it is for a holiday, or a new hoover – is legitimate. If you’re unsure about any company, you can look them up on Companies House, to their history and reviews from previous customers. If you do make a purchase, do so with a credit or debit card, as doing so will offer you better financial protection if anything goes wrong.

 

If you receive a suspicious email with a link in the message, do not click on it. Doing so could download a virus onto your device.

Public WiFi can be easily intercepted, so connecting to it can be a risk to your personal information. When using WiFi, be sure to use a secure connection, which requires a password.

If you’ve received contact from someone you don’t recognise it’s possible that they are trying to scam you. You should be especially wary if they are contacting you about money (saying you owe it, or have won or inherited it) or ask for any of your personal information.

If you receive unexpected letters or emails, check to see who they are addressed to; if they address you impersonally, such using the terms Sir, Madam, Homeowner or Customer, then it is likely that they are illegitimate companies. If they do address you by name, check that your name is spelled correctly.

If you receive a letter from a business, they should include a return address; the absence of this may suggest that the letter is fraudulent. Similarly, if someone emails you claiming to be from your bank, energy provider or benefits office, check the sender’s email address matches the one on their website and previous correspondence from them.

If you see a phone, bike or holiday on sale for a fraction of its usual retail price, it probably isn’t a legitimate offer.

 

If you are contacted about a matter you know nothing about – such as a car accident you were supposedly in – then it is likely that the person calling is trying to get personal information.

 

If your bank believes there's been a breach in your account's security, they will inform you, but they will never tell you to transfer your funds. If you receive a message saying that your account has been breached and you must transfer your money into a "safe" account, do not action the request.

If you do think your account's security is at risk, contact your bank instead.

If you were keeping contact with the person or organisation scamming you, cut off all communication with them immediately. Ignore any future attempts they make to contact you.

 

If you were making continuous payments, but have realised you were paying into a scam, cancel all your future payments.

 

If you think any of your online accounts have been accessed, change all of your passwords as soon as you can. Ensure your new passwords are completely different to the old ones and that they contain numbers, upper and lower case letters and symbols. If you think any of your online accounts have been hacked, click here for advice on how to recover them.

 

If you think your account details have been stolen, or you see a payment from your account that you don’t recognise, call your bank as soon as you can to secure your account. Your bank will also be able to advise whether or not you can recover money you lost through the scam.