Cyber security and scams.
Guest Speaker, Senior Constable Sandra Fraietta, Northern Beaches PAC Dee Why 2023
An worrying presentation by Sandra and Matt from Dee Why Police.
Scams are a constant threat and growing – $3B of Credit Card Identity theft last year makes it one of the more successful fraudulent activities. New credit cards mailed from banks, have been stolen from letter boxes and with other personal information gleaned from Social Media, enquiring phone calls, stolen letters etc have been used for fraudulent activities such as claiming government benefits, income tax frauds or incurring debt to the card’s intended holder. It is safer to pick up your card from your financial institution rather than having it posted.
Phone scams are at the top of the list, followed by social networking scams and then email scams.
The elderly (ie age >65) community are the main targets.
Be aware of Card Skimming – the reading of card and PIN numbers by optical readers fraudulently attached to ATMs, so cover your hand when keying in your PIN number. There have been 2,329,247 reports of card skimming. Safety tips for avoiding identity theft
Lock your letter box
Shred letters containing personal information before discarding
Don’t give out personal information
Don’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers
Assume all communication from unknown sources are associated with scams unless you can prove otherwise. Always check.
Safety tips enhancing Cyber security
Be wary of phishing emails after personal information. The more they know, the more vulnerable you are
Be wary of dating scams (probably doesn’t affect too many of us in KHPC)
Use a complex password and change it regularly
Check for safe websites eg address beginning with https rather than http
Avoid suspicious online links, hover your cursor over the link and examine its address.
Keep your computer’s operating system and security software up to date
Don’t use public WiFi, eg at a shopping centre, for mobile phone financial transactions, ok for web browsing
Report an activity that you might suspect to be a scam
REMEMBER – if it seems too good to be true then it probably is too good to be true
Scribe: Tom Keating