Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Preventing Scams?
In 2017 the reported money lost to scams is a staggering $72856018
Calm down and take a moment When we panic we tend to make really bad decisions. If you feel like something terrible has happened don't immediately try to find a solution, often you'll have your guard down and download something or take action which will lead to more problems. This happens to our customers that delete or lose important documents — stop and contact us. This also occurs when our clients get a fake virus warning from a website telling them to contact Microsoft directly, stop and contact us to verify. If someone requests remote access to help you fix your computer — run for the hills... and then contact us! Unsolicited contact Never discuss or buy from someone claiming to be from a reputable business e.g. telecommunication, charities, banks, government agencies and so on. Hang up, and call back from a phone number found on their legitimate website to confirm. As a rule of thumb ignore and hang up any unsolicited phone call no matter how professional it might sound its not worth the risk. Too good to be true We see lots of customers receiving official looking emails offering huge discounts off well known brands or emails regarding a tax refund or pension problems and prizes etc. Ignore the email and go to the source to check for the truth, find the official website and double check. Fear/Scare tactics If someone contacts or emails you talking about debts, missed payments, medical emergencies, that you have a virus or any other 'emergency' that requires 'immediate action' to avoid 'further action' — you can almost certainly class this as a scam. Hang up or delete the email and check directly with the source e.g. visit the Australian Tax Office website and contact them directly to verify the enquiry and so on. Phishing/fake websites This has been a very popular scam for a very long time because it's very effective — a website which looks and feels just like the real one designed to steal your username and password details. The best way to check if you're at the real website is to verify the URL in the address bar at the top of your internet browser. Make sure that the address is correct e.g. hotmail.com instead of hotmail.fakewebsite.com. The actual address is always the word leading before the '.com'. If in doubt, leave and visit the website directly. What can you do
As of 2019 we've been hard at work creating a solution to stop scammers from accessing your computer remotely. Take a look at bSafe anti-scam.
If you think you've been scammed find out where to get help. If you encounter any scams you should report them to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) immediately.
Many scams can be prevented with the right protection. We offer a fantastic suite of protection tools to keep you safe online. You can review our package here. We sourced award winning protection that won't throttle or slow down your computers performance — we like it fast and effective.
Make sure you're protected from major viruses, malware, ransom ware, phishing websites and many other issues online. Check out our fast and effective suite of protection tools available.
