IT Security Blog

Staying safe from scams online can sometimes be difficult, with the ACCC reporting that in 2011 alone the reported losses for Australians to scams topped $85 Million dollars. Being connected through your personal computer, your University computer and your smart phone offers scammers nearly 24/7 contact with you in one form or another, so you need to arm yourself with the right information to protect yourself against scams. The ACCC has reported the following top scams;

• Advance fee scams (30,426 reported, 36.6% of reported scams). Includes requests for payment for package delivery, or promises of a large inheritance followed by requests for a “processing fee”. Why would you send money to a stranger you’ve never met?
• Computer hacking scams (19,473 reported, 23.4% of reported scams). Callers say a problem has been detected on your machine and offer to walk you through how to fix it. This in turn makes your computer vulnerable to spying and potentially part of a botnet. Social media scams also fall in this category.
• Lottery and sweepstake scams (7.863 reported, 9.5% of reported scams). Remember that lottery you never entered? Apparently you’ve won money and can receive a fortune in return for a small up-front payment. There’s only one person getting rich in this scam, and it isn’t you.
• Banking/phishing scams< (5,430 reported, 6.5% of reported scams). Emails which ask you to confirm account details to avoid account cancellation or read an online statement, then redirect you to a non-bank site. The aim is to steal your login details.
• Online auction and shopping scams (5,012 reported, 6.0% of reported scams). Auctions or web sales for non-existent or counterfeit products.

Online shopping is becoming more popluar in Australia, which gives scammers a new way to scam money from you. Its always a good idea to check ebay feedback, to do a quick google search of a company before you buy from them to check their reputation. Once thing to always be aware of is their dispute process should your item not arrive, arrived damaged or not work as described. For example, when using PayPal you only have up to 45 days to dispute a transaction. Scammers will tell you they have sent your package but the postage must be taking a long time and string you along, and after 45 days ignore you as you cannot dispute the transaction.

As a rule, never hand out any information online that you wouldn’t want the whole world to know, and never give any personal information to anybody you don’t know. And when it comes to scams, if its too good to be true, its a scam.

Resources

2011 ACCC Scam Report – http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1040045/fromItemId/142

ACCC Little black book of scams – http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/816453

ScamWatch, Information on scams in Australia – http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/