Maddiston Community Council teamed up with Police Scotland to help bring awareness of common online frauds and scams. There are many different types of online fraud, being aware of them helps protect yourself from becoming a victim.
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Romance and dating fraud
An increasingly popular way for couples to meet, with millions of people forming new relationships by this method. Unfortunately, among the genuine profiles are fake profiles set up by fraudsters with the sole intention of emptying your bank account. They are after your hard earned cash, not your love.
What you will experience is that these fraudsters are masters of manipulation, playing on the good nature and emotions of the victim. Fraudsters will be very convincing to gain your trust quickly and will ask to go from the website to private messaging and continue communication that way. Fraudsters will be very flattering and appear interested in you in a very short period of time and have numerous excuses for reasons why they cannot personally meet with you, such as they are overseas, have an issue with their business or are called away on urgent family matters. Once they are satisfied they have “hooked” you they will request money for things like new phones, flight tickets, or medical expenses, often asking for the money to be passed via bank transfer or Western Union payment or similar and often to countries such as Nigeria. They are intending to take as much cash from you as possible |
Protect yourself
Stay on site, keep all communication on the dating site website you are using
Don’t be convinced by profile pictures, they may be taken from elsewhere on the internet Never send money to someone you have not met |
Protect yourself
Research the company and make such the job applied for actually exists.
Be suspicious of any company asking for ANY fee upfront for security checks, visas, training etc. Never provide personal details such as bank accounts, national insurance number, date of birth etc. Do not conduct the process online at some point the application should involve a phone call or face to face interview. Visit www.safer-jobs.com for free advice |
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Protect Yourself
Never divulge your banking details over the phone to anyone, your bank will never ask for your PIN number in this manner.
If contacted by phone, phone your bank for confirmation. Never use the same phone that the fraudsters contacted you on. They will leave the line open, in effect you are merely phoning them back. If they contact you by landline, phone the bank using your mobile. |
Safe Account
Fraudster will contact you pretending to be from your bank and advise you that your account had been compromised and advising you that you have to move funds into a “safe account” that they had set up for you.
They will ask for account details and password / PIN numbers etc. Once the funds have been transferred, the safe account will be emptied and your cash will be lost. |
Gift Card and iTunes Scams
Fraudsters will contact you claiming to be from a Government agency such as HMRC or DWP. You will be advised that you owe back taxes or similar, advised that they have a warrant for your arrest and Police will be attending to arrest you.
The fraudster will offer that payment can be made today using Store Gift cards or iTunes vouchers. Cards will be purchased generally from supermarkets and once obtained the fraudster will get you to read out the 16 digit security number on the rear of the card. The fraudster know has control of the cash, and does not need to physically to have the card. |
Protect Yourself
No Government agency will ever ask for payment by this means and would never contact you by phone to advise you of this. This would always be carried out by post.
Should you receive a call of this nature, you are in control, hang up immediately. |
Protect Yourself
If a business be alert to requests to change banking details in this manner, usually e-mail, even if it seems to come from someone that you have dealt with for years.
Pick up the phone and speak to them or meet face to face to confirm this request |
Mandate Fraud
Fraudster will hack into personal and business accounts, once relevant details are obtained a fake e-mail will be sent to the business to advise of a new banking process complete with sort code and account details.
The monthly invoices will continue as normal and the scam will not be uncovered until the real recipient goes looking for the outstanding payments. |
Some Useful Addresses
ABTA: www.abta.com
Citizens Advice: www.citizensadvice.org.uk
Crimestoppers: www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Cyber Aware: www.cyberaware.gov.uk
Financial Conduct Authority: www.fca.org.uk
Get safe Online: www.getsafeonline.org
Online dating Association: www.datingagencyassociation.org.uk
SAFERjobs: www.safer-jobs.com
Police Scotland: www.scotland.police.uk/keep-safe/
Action Fraud: https://actionfraud.police.uk
Take Five: https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk