Safer Internet Day – ‘Play It Fair Online’, is a time to consider ‘best practice’ in internet safety in terms of our own online presence as well as protecting ourselves from online scares. The ‘Safety First’ online topic resources on Be Connected will continue to be drawn upon in 2022 and we will continue to regularly raise the issue of protection against scams—a topic at a Meet and Mingle presentation last year.
Protect against Scams
Be alert. If you get an email or phone call you suspect is not genuine:
Protect against Scams
Be alert. If you get an email or phone call you suspect is not genuine:
- Verify –Check using contact details you get from a phone book or independent online search.
- Avoid clicking links – before clicking, hover your computer mouse over the URL (web link) and the ‘from’ email address:
- If an email address doesn’t end with the company’s name and .com after the ‘@’ symbol, it’s likely to be a scam.
- If a URL is different from the link description, it is probably a scam.
- Take your time – many scams will try to create a sense of urgency. Don’t be rushed into handing over your personal information.
- Consider your privacy – Only provide information such as Medicare numbers and credit card security codes to organisations you can trust. Requests for private data should ring alarm bells.
- Report – If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your financial institution immediately.
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