Spam, scams and phishing
How can spam and phishing affect my family?
Spam is unsolicited commercial electronic messages. This includes email, instant messaging, SMS and MMS that you receive without consent, usually advertising a product or service. Spam can waste time, potentially expose children to fraud, gambling and pornography, and lead to viruses.
Although the most common place to find spam is in an email, it can also appear in unwanted advertising on online forums, instant messaging chats, newsgroups and blogs. Email is simply the most common delivery mechanism for these scams.
Phishing is the use of email or SMS to encourage you to reveal financial details like credit card numbers, account names and passwords or other personal information. The email or SMS can look like a genuine message from a real bank, telecommunications provider, online retailer or credit card company. Often the message will contain an urgent ‘call to action’ in order to trick you into supplying personal details, such as claims that the bank account will be closed or compromised if action is not taken. Phishing is usually sent from falsified email addresses, but is increasingly being sent to mobile telephones and VoIP telephone services.
What can I do about spam?
Speak to your internet service provider (ISP) about what they are doing to stop spam. Most ISPs will filter spam for you.
To help deal with spam, it’s important to learn to recognise it. The subject heading of spam emails will often sound too good to be true, offering get-rich-quick schemes, friendship or inexpensive medication.
Be cautious about emails that arrive from any businesses or email addresses that you do not recognise.
Keep your email address as private as possible and avoid posting it on public websites or forums. It is advisable to avoid forums that request and display your email address publicly. This can help to limit spam.
When joining or subscribing to anything online, check the privacy policy or terms and conditions to ensure that your email address or other contact details, such as a mobile telephone number, will never be passed on to third parties or other organisations.
Don’t click an ‘Unsubscribe’ link within an email, unless it’s from a source you recognise. Fake emails contain unsubscribe links that actually alert the spammers that your email address is active. This makes your email more valuable to them, resulting in more spam.
If you’re receiving a lot of spam, consider changing your email address, using a second email address for online transactions or purchasing spam-blocking software. You can adjust the settings in some email software to detect and delete spam.
What about phishing?
Be wary if you receive an email that looks like it comes from a trusted source, such as your bank or a familiar online shopping site. The email may have convincing logos and designs, but the familiar look and feel is intended to trick you into revealing your personal details.
Never respond to an email or SMS that asks for personal or financial information, even if it appears to be from your bank. If in doubt, call your bank or visit in person.
A good rule of thumb is to remember that you would not provide your bank account or other personal details to a stranger at your front door, so you should not pass your details on to anyone in an email.
Remember to keep a close check on your financial statements and look for any unexpected transactions. Contact your financial institution if you have any queries.