{"id":214,"date":"2024-06-25T17:03:53","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T04:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/?p=214"},"modified":"2024-06-25T17:03:53","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T04:03:53","slug":"how-to-avoid-being-scammed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/2024\/06\/25\/how-to-avoid-being-scammed\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid being scammed!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cHi. I\u2019m &lt;insert name&gt; from Microsoft. We have detected that you have &lt;insert problem&gt; with your PC\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the start of a classic scam that has been doing the rounds for many years and is continuing to claim victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scams come in many different types from the classic \u201csupport call\u201d above to dating or romance scams, buying and\/or selling goods online and many others.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2023 nearly 8000 incidents were reported to CERT NZ with a combined loss of $18.3 million!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are just the reported incidents; many go unreported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do you keep yourself safe from a scam?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be aware of <strong>RED<\/strong> flags:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Requesting access to your \u201ccomputer\u201d to troubleshoot an issue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Poor grammar and\/or spelling in text messages and emails.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Urgency or pressure tactics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Requests for payment via unusual methods &#8211; gift cards, wire transfers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Unsolicited communication \u2013 emails, calls, texts \u2013 asking for personal information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Always:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Verify the legitimacy of requests or offers.\u00a0 Don\u2019t just take someone\u2019s word for it.\u00a0 Do your own research and don\u2019t be in a hurry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don\u2019t share sensitive personal information including on social media \u2013 Facebook, Instagram, X, Tiktok etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If the person on the phone says they\u2019re from your bank, hang-up, ring your bank on their correct phone number and report it to them.\u00a0 <strong>Don\u2019t<\/strong> use the number the person called from.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated all the time meaning we need to always be \u201con guard\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cHi. I\u2019m &lt;insert name&gt; from Microsoft. We have detected that you have &lt;insert problem&gt; with your PC\u201d. This is the start of a classic scam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,36,37],"tags":[22,38],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cyber-scams","category-scam-aware","category-scam-awareness","tag-cyberscams","tag-scamaware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215,"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/securesphere.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}