SCAMBULLETIN April.pdf - Crandon for Coomera

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- IN CONFIDENCE - FLOOD CRISIS DONTATIONS/CHARITY SCAMS Scammers have taken advantage of the current flood crisis in Queensland, and are attempting to exploit the generosity and kindness of members of the public in the aftermath of this and other recent disastrous events. The Donation or Charity Scam involves the scammer purporting to be various charity, relief or appeal organisations, collecting donations in the form of cash, or credit card information from trusting consumers. The scammers make their approach for donations through a variety of means including telephone, internet, mail, door to door, or approaching in the street. The scammers pose as either representatives of well known charities or they create their own charity name. The scammers may have difficulties in providing full details on the charity organisation, including its full name, address, contact details, and the percentage of the donation which goes towards running expenses. The scammer may not have identification or be able to provide receipts. SUGGESTED RESPONSE TO INQUIRIES • Exercise caution and use common sense. • Request identification – and if shown, examine it and don’t necessarily believe it as it may be forged. • Independently search for the charity organisation online, don’t rely on the details provided, as may scams can be identified this way • Do not be pressured into making an immediate decision • Don’t give out personal, credit card or online account details over the telephone unless you know it came from a trusted source. • Don’t send money to someone you don’t know. • Do not respond to unsolicited (SPAM) email • If you think you have been scammed, contact www.scamwatch.gov.au or by calling 1300 795 995
- IN CONFIDENCE - SOCIAL NETWORK SCAMS Online scammers are preying on the public’s growing eagerness to embrace new technologies such as social media and online commerce. Many people view their online personas as being separate to their real life identities, and they don’t take the same precautions to protect their identities, their computers or their money. With social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter becoming more popular, users are often targeted with schemes that look like advertisements and personal messages. Facebook users are receiving emails purporting to be from the social networking site Facebook and containing a purported offer of friendship from a Facebook member. By way of identification, the email message has always contained the phrase: “Hi, the following person invited you to be their friend on Facebook” The email resembles an official Facebook email, however the email can be confirmed as being a phishing fake as it has no “confirm” button and because there is no prompt for an email address to be used in order to sign up to the site. This is just one of a number that use the Facebook come-on to get people to click on one of the links, which will take them to a hacker’s site that will generally try to get them to give up some form of secure information, since the user will believe that he/she is on the Facebook site itself. Users are also receiving emails attempting to entice recipients to purchase online music from a sham online music store. This is in an attempt to get them to reveal their credit card details. Scammers have also tricked Facebook users into handing over their social networking password and username. This is achieved through sending genuine looking, fake emails/messages, purportedly from Facebook, requesting confirmation of user name and password [‘Phishing’]. Once a scammer has the user’s password they can gain control of their account and pose as them. The account may then be used to send bogus distress messages to friends and family, claiming that the real Facebook identity is in trouble and urgently needs money. This scam can also be perpetrated through the email system, if they obtain access to the email account. SUGGESTED RESPONSE TO INQUIRIES • Be very careful about how much personal information is shared on social networking sites. Scammers can use that information and pictures to create a fake identity or to target you with a scam. • Exercise caution – it is easy for people to lie in the online environment • Don’t post information that would make you or your family vulnerable, such as date of birth, address, daily routine, holiday plans, or children’s school • Don’t accept friend requests from strangers • Don’t click on suspicious links on social networking sites, even if they are from your friends • Check user account settings on social networking sites, as the emails can be stopped via the use of the privacy policy and settings • Have separate passwords for different accounts • Regularly update internet security • Avoid visiting websites from links in unsolicited emails. • Report this type of scam via the SCAMwatch “report a scam” page at www.scamwatch.gov.au or by calling 1300 795 995
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