Don’t be a victim of Christmas scams

10 Dec 2020

We all have to be vigilant to stay safe online, but scams and online crime can be particularly prevalent at this time of year.

Your login details could be compromised, your financial details stolen, or your computer’s files ‘held hostage’ by ransomware if you’re not careful.

Email – does it look phishy?

Remember – JDLR. If an email Just Doesn’t Look Right, report it to IT Services .

Is there an urgent call-to-action to click on a link or open an attachment? Don’t be rushed into clicking before you’ve had a chance to think about it.

Do you know the sender, were you expecting an email from them, and does the tone of the email sound like them? Ask yourself if it’s likely they’d ask you to urgently buy online vouchers.

A common phishing scam around Christmas is where an email purports to come from a delivery company, claiming that you’ve missed the delivery of a package, or asking you to rearrange a delivery. Attachments in these emails are often infected with malicious software, and the links go to malicious websites.

If you’re ever unsure if an email is legitimate or not, contact the IT Support Centre straight away, and do not open any links or attachments in the email.

Ransomware – holding your files hostage

Ransomware is one of the most dangerous cyber crimes to surface in the past few years. If your computer gets infected with ransomware by a phishing email, remote login session from a scam caller or malicious website, your files may be encrypted, meaning they will be locked until you pay a significant ransom to unlock them.

If you have University information on an infected computer, criminals may also threaten to expose sensitive or otherwise private data unless you pay a ransom. Exposing private information would cause embarrassment, reputational damage, possible financial damage, and would subject the University to a significant fine.

“I’m calling from your Internet Service Provider because your IP address has been compromised”

One common scam is for a criminal to call you and claim that something is wrong with your computer or broadband connection, making all sorts of false accusations about it being infected with a virus. They will then offer to fix the problem for a fee, which means you’ll end up paying a lot of money for nothing at all, or even worse – having your computer infected with actual malicious software.

Your Internet Service Provider, Microsoft, Apple or any other legitimate company will never phone you to offer to clean up your computer.

Is that offer too good to be true?

Criminals prey on our thirst for a bargain, and will often exploit that by listing counterfeit, low quality or even non-existent products for sale, even on well-known websites. When buying, ensure the seller is legitimate and has a good rating.