We need to protect ourselves better online. Who better to ask for advice than from a ex-scammer himself?
Anyone can fall into a scammer’s net. While technology can make it easier for people to scam us online, it can also help protect ourselves.
Hackers try to trick us into giving them our personal details by contacting us through email, text, or phone pretending to be another person or organisation. This is called phishing.
They can also gather our information through cyber attacks, which are surprisingly common. They might send viruses through the websites we visit or hack into organisations’ data records. They are also used by criminals to disrupt services. An attack in South East London, for example, affected blood donations.
Trustworthy organisations, like Quids in!, have policies to protect users’ data and will quickly respond if they get hacked. They’ll then take steps to secure their websites and notify people who might be affected.
But as consumers, we don’t need to go off the grid to stay safe. There are ways to protect ourselves from phishing and cyber attacks without closing our online bank accounts or deleting our email accounts.
Avoid the Phisherman’s Net
Who better to listen to about cyber safety than a scammer himself? Well, a former scammer, that is. James Linton used to be a ‘spear phisher’. This means he tricked people into giving him sensitive data.
And he was good at it. Linton told Eleanor Peake at iNews that he managed to trick big names, from the CEO of Barclays to the White House Chief of Staff and US Homeland Security.
Now, Linton works in cyber security, helping companies identify scams and threats. He outlines some warning signs to look out for with online scams.
Phishing emails, he says, often create a sense of urgency. And they may seem to come from people we know. For example, we might get an email that looks like it’s from our boss asking us to verify our bank details. “They might say: ‘This payment will go out unless you cancel or reverse it right now.’ It will also be within a short time frame, like 24 hours, never over 17 days or anything.”
Top Tips
- Install free anti-virus software, like Avast, onto your laptop and check your phone/ tablet computer has it built into its operating system. It should alert you if you visit an unsecure website and prevent viruses getting onto your computer
- Spotting dodgy emails: Always check the sender – not who it says sent it, but click the senders name to see if it’s a real email address. Be suspicious if anyone is asking for bank or identity details, or there are spelling mistakes (like in the image above) or poor grammar. Check it came from them via their published details or website, not what’s in the email. See expert advice here
- Check websites you visit are secure. On most browsers, you’ll see a padlock
next to the web address at the top of the page. (On Chrome, you can press the 
slider icon next to the web address and the padlock should show there.) - 2FA – Use two-factor authentication, if it’s available. This adds a layer of security over and above a password, which could get hacked. Often this means giving an email address or phone number so the website can send you a code, or using another app to ‘authenticate’ that it’s you
Not a techie, not a problem
It may seem overwhelming, especially if we’re not tech-savvy, but protecting ourselves online isn’t as complicated as it seems. For extra help, we can use free resources from Learn My Way. We can register for free and access their safety and security online page for key tips on how to stay safe online.
Image: Selman DEDIK / Shutterstock
