| Scams come in different variants designed to draw | | | | growing problem however to protect yourself it is |
| us using a specific trigger such as advertising a hard | | | | wise to go through the following checklist to minimise |
| to obtain item, a bargain price good or the | | | | your chance of becoming a victim. |
| opportunity to earn extra money. Fraudsters often | | | | If it is an e-mail, hit reply to see what address comes |
| pretend to be e-mailing from big brands and use the | | | | up; often a fraudster will show a different from |
| company logos to add authenticity. | | | | address to the real address but by trying to reply |
| The impact of scams in the UK has been to such an | | | | you will see a fraudulent address. Careful read the |
| extent that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has | | | | URL of the link as fraudsters will often register |
| launched a campaign to raise awareness of the issue. | | | | domains that only differ very slightly to the real |
| According to the research it carried out 73% of | | | | address. Always type the address of a company you |
| adults have received an email in this past year with 1 | | | | deal with direct into the address bar and avoid clicking |
| in 15 people falling victim to a scam which could have | | | | on links. If it is a phone call we advise if they ask for |
| come on the form of an e-mail, phone call, text or | | | | sensitive information then state that you will call |
| unwanted post. | | | | back, if they are legit then they won't have a |
| Many people read about scams and think that they | | | | problem or come up with excuses. |
| would never fall victim to one however apparently | | | | Finally take time to consider the idea or promotion, if |
| around 4m people have responded to a scam. The | | | | it sounds too good to be true then exactly as the |
| difficulty is while some fraud schemes are clearly | | | | old saying goes, it probably is. If you operate a |
| fraudulent, the Nigerian money transfer scheme is | | | | business online it is worth educating your employees |
| one such example however people do still fall fowl of | | | | on the latest fraud techniques to protect your |
| it but in decreasing numbers due to the awareness | | | | business. Marcus evans scam conferences are |
| raised. | | | | regularly run which do just that. |
| It's great to hear the OFT is responding to this | | | | |