The problem: email, texts and the land-line phone
system
were invented in the ’80s without much thought about
security.
Email addresses, text messages and phone numbers
can be
spoofed, that is, compromised, as being sent from
anyone!
So it is technically possible for someone to:
send you an email to you appearing to come
from one
of your kids
send you a text appearing to come from the HMRC
phone you using a friend’s phone number
There is no way of preventing this old tech from
being
compromised, so … one at a time:
Firstly, a simple fear-free approach
Check the domain (website name) of the sender’s
address
(the bit after the @)
Email addresses can be spoofed, that is,
compromised,
as being sent from anyone!
[See examples: Mail > Plusnet]
Again …
Scam texts usually have links, check the link
website
It it a website/domain you trust!
[See examples: Photos >Places]
Phone numbers can be spoofed, that is,
compromised,
as being sent from anyone!
The problem here is that it may be a genuine caller!
So …
You ask the caller your questions!
My full name?
My postcode?
If from your bank: time of my last login, my
most
recent transaction, etc
If from the NHS/surgery: my DoB?
If from the police: the case or reason for the call
If from HMRC: it isn’t!
I recently explained this to a lady older than me
who then
said she was looking forward to having a go!
When you receive a suspect email or phone call:
Don’t
only block the number but note the number and put it
in the subject line to:
Curiosity or something-for-nothing can lead you astray
[Skip this …to read at home!]
People often feel confident in their ability to detect a scam. In a series of experiments that investigated why people engage with materials that are obviously scams – such as letters apparently notifying the person of lottery winnings – we found a subgroup of people who said such letters were probably a scam but would contact the scammers to see for sure, then still back out without any losses.
A typical scam starts by exposing a victim to the fraudster’s pitch, which is designed to evoke strong emotions such as fear. Then fraudsters use persuasion tactics such as commitment (making people feel obligated to follow through on a pledge), authority (police), scarcity (time pressure), and “social proof” to engage their targets. Social proof is a term coined by psychologist Robert Cialdini to explain the way consumers will adapt their behaviour in response to what other people are doing.
They no longer need to be complicated!
They can be easy to remember …
… but need to be long as well as including a
capital and a
number.
It’s so important to have a different password for each login.
Here’s a way to do it …
Ensure you make regular backups of all your
documents and
photos!
If privacy is not important to you, take a mental
break for a
few minutes … !
Google is now quite hot on security, but is
totally reliant on
data about its users for its advertising
billions on knowing as
much about you as possible - profiling
means zero privacy.
Remove Google’s Chrome browser and replace
it with
Firefox browser
Use DuckDuckGo search instead of Google search
If you use use GMail, don’t delete it but
use another
email host: Zoho Mail is £1 a month (nothing is
free!)
If you have an iPhone use Apple Maps for satnav
Not only does Meta profile you to make its
billions, like
Google, but unlike Google it has also had at
least four
significant data breaches.
The UK Information Commissioner has gone on public
record
to describe the organisation as, “Morally bankrupt
pathological liars”.
Only put information on Facebook you want
publicly
available, e.g. no photos which have the date, time
and
location in their files; no personal information
including:
full name, birthday, address, phone number;
affiliations.
Ideal if you want to people to know about
your group,
organisation or shop … but be careful what you
post.
Delete your Facebook account!
Don’t let WhatApp have access to your
contacts - but
how inconvenient!
Instead of WhatsApp use Signal. Signal does
the same
job, is actually free, is also end-to-encrypted. Set
up
by one of the creators of WhatsApp … a whole new
story!
4
Amazon Privacy Settings You Should Change Right Now,
Jared
Newman advises that changing these four Amazon
privacy settings
can minimize or prevent much of Amazon's
data collection.
Opt out of Amazon's targeted ads
Limit Alexa data collection
Minimize Amazon device data collection
Hide your Amazon browsing history
Amazon actually tracks all your mouse/pointer movements!
Search engine
Gmail email service
Gmail mail app
Chrome browser app
Phones and tablets: Android operating system
WhatsApp message app
App
Prime
Ring
Browser app: Firefox app
Search engine: DuckDuckGo, use with
any browser
(and app)
Email app: Thunderbird
Mail service: Zoho mail (and app), low cost
Signal messages app
Feature phone: Doro (it’s not ’smart’)
Smart phones and tablets: Apple iPhone and iPad
Security cameras: that work with Apple HomeKit
Property Alert is a free property monitoring
service for anyone who
feels a registered property could be at
risk from fraud.
You can sign up to get email alerts when certain
activity occurs on
your monitored properties, so you can take
action if needed.
Whereas some email scams give themselves away with
poor
grammar and punctuation, misspellings and strange layout …
that is all changing: email and text scams may be generated
by
AI and become totally plausible! But the advice is the same!
A recent report describes how a man in the US
received a
distressing phone call sounding like his mother
demanding
Bitcoin for her release. He ‘quizzed the caller’
and asked her
for her maiden name! He rang his mum … she was
fine. Her
voice was copied by AI from her social media posts!
[View tab]
If you’ve been contacted by someone claiming to
be from
Nationwide, there are ways to help you work out if it’s
us or
not.
The most important thing to remember is that we
will never
make you feel pressured to do anything. And we won’t
try and
stop you from checking who you’re speaking to.
Disclose security details, like your PIN, or
one-off card
reader code over the phone
Log directly into the Internet Bank via a
link in an email,
text or social media message
Transfer money into a safe account
Use, re-enable or re-sync your card reader
over the
phone
Include the last 4 digits of your card number
if we text
you regarding a suspicious transaction.
Don't panic … a quote from White Rabbit in Disney's 1951 animated production of Alice in Wonderland
See surfer page … under Resources