The festive season is an immediate target for cyber criminals, but as the new year begins, the scams are far from over.
Businesses have also fell victim, with scams such as phishing, IT support scams and viruses effecting businesses more and more each year.
It can be difficult to notice a scam email, text or phone call, but it's important to always ask questions. you would normally trust- could be a friend, colleague, bank etc. They use this familiar persona to gain personal information. This happens a lot within business when scammers will pretend to be bosses/higher ups in order to gain information.
How to spot: Take your time reviewing the message, look for inconsistencies like spelling, grammar or dialect that the person you know wouldn't use. Don't click any suspicious links without checking with the sender first.
IT support scams are another popular form within businesses, where a scam company will contact an employee and inform them of an issue/query and will ask to install software on their devices. They can then seize information and hold it in return for money, or flood hardware with viruses.
How to spot: Always ask your IT department about any suspicious emails or messages, check the emails they come from, sometimes they have spelling mistakes in them which can give them away. With any possible scam, always check before you act.
Scams come in many other forms, it's important to remain vigilant. If you're in doubt about an email, text or call, always run it by your IT department before acting.
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