Stop and think to beat the scammers

Scammers are constantly creating new ways to catch us off-guard. To help you steer clear of their evolving strategies, MMHS plans a series of articles sharing our views on ways to protect ourselves from this threat.

Charity supporters are being targeted through a relatively new phenomenon, cybersquatting.

Cybersquatting is where scammers register domain names similar to legitimate charities. They call for donations – but pocket the money themselves. It’s an effective way to exploit public goodwill – particularly during crises like the Ukraine war.

The good news is that it’s simple to avoid cybersquatters. Type in the charity website address yourself. Look for the registered charity number on the website.

Looking at scams generally, AbilityNet offer the simple advice – stop and think. Leave the text or email – and check the story. Every scam is a story. Being scammed starts when you believe that story through a text, email, phone call, or letter.

A common scam targeting householders is where a text says a courier failed to deliver due to ‘incomplete address’ – adding a link to reschedule delivery. That kind of message may even have a well-known courier’s logo.

But logos can easily be copied and pasted – so the first step is to ignore the logo. ‘Just because they’re genuine-looking logos doesn’t mean they are genuine,’ said digital skills trainer Lucy Walsh, who spoke recently at an AbilityNet workshop.

Lucy urges people to analyse messages by asking, ‘Does it make any sense?’ If the answer is no, AbilityNet encourage you not to click on any links. You can watch the AbilityNet workshop here: https://www.youtube.com/live/v7Tuz1fsLvM.