Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the fact that many people, businesses and countries are desperately recovering financially from the impact of recent events. Social engineering is improving in sophistication with more cyber criminals putting effort into the data they receive, the way they contact their victims and the language they use.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) operates Scamwatch, which provides up-to-date information about the targets of scammers and the methods they use to exploit the fear and vulnerability of Australians and their businesses.
Currently, scammers are using information provided by recent data breaches and capitalising on interest in Cryptocurrency by:
- Impersonating prominent or popular people such as financial advisors (the David “Kochie” Koch crypto trading scam has been very successful recently);
- Spreading misinformation about Cryptocurrency and other forms of investment;
- Offering fraudulent investment opportunities;
- Cold calling, masquerading as businesses such as Amazon, Facebook or Microsoft, some of which you might be subscribed to, and may appear to have information about you.
Scammers are predominantly using email and text messages to reach their targets, however voice calls are also increasing in popularity. In order to protect yourself and to ensure the or phone calls you receive are legitimate, the following are just some of the strategies that you can use:
- Do not offer personal information over the phone, ask for a reference number and call the company back by searching for their phone number on a legitimate search engine;
- Check the ‘From’ field, making sure that the domain is spelled correctly (the part after the ‘@’. As an example, if receiving an email from the World Health Organization ensure the email domain is “@who.int” and NOT something like “@whom.int”);
- Pay attention to warnings in your email client, as businesses generally provide evidence with they emails they send, proving their legitimacy;
- Never click on links within an email, and instead go to the company website directly yourself to avoid fake websites that have been created by the scammers;
- Think about the way you’re being contacted, does it feel right?
For more information about current scams that are targeting Australians and businesses, visit www.scamwatch.gov.au. And if you receive an email from ACR that looks suspicious, please let us know at support@acr.com.au or give us a call on (02) 4725 2020.