Fake emails and websites can look very realistic, and trick thousands – but we explain how to outsmart them
According to the website Bank Safe Online, 20 million UK citizens now access their bank accounts online, but this convenience carries a potential cost.
Where there is money, there are usually criminals trying to relieve you of it, so it’s no surprise that phishing – online fraud that tricks you into giving away information – is a huge growth industry.
Online criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and it’s not only phishing that is on the rise. Tricking you into disclosing your online banking password is only one way of stealing your money.
From phoney foreign officials claiming to need help spiriting pots of fake cash out of the country to swindles targeting buyers and sellers on auction sites, there are plenty of ways to trick the unwary.
The best defence is to know how the scammers work, so we will explain how to separate what is legitimate from what’s not.
Spotting fake emails
Before we begin, it’s important to remember that, to stay safe from all online crime, you should never respond directly to any unexpected email you receive, no matter how tempting or frightening it is. That includes clicking on any links that are in it. If your bank really does detect unauthorised activity on an account, for example, it will phone you directly.
If you receive a dodgy email and are genuinely worried, this is simple to solve. Take it to your bank branch, or look up the phone number from your bank statement or other documents and give them a call.
Fake emails find a large and growing range of uses in online crime, and getting into your bank account is only one of them. One increasingly common use is to infect home users’ computers with malicious software.
For the creator of some new malicious software, the difficulty is getting it onto the internet without giving away their location to the authorities. What’s needed is some other person to unwittingly launch it.
