Which? has provided more news about scams to avoid, including how to avoid identity theft, three travel scams to watch out for, a fake Virgin Atlantic advert and many more…Meanwhile a warning has been issued separately about so-called friendship fraud.
How to avoid identity theft
Identity theft is described as “when your personal information, such as your name, date of birth, current or previous addresses, is stolen and used by someone else to impersonate you. Identity theft can take place whether a victim is alive or deceased.”
Which? has issued some useful advice about how to avoid identity theft. They noted that there were more fraud cases than ever last year and that many of them involved AI-generated information and images to help scammers steal personal information.
To learn more about how to avoid the scammers, please see here .
Conned by a fake Virgin Atlantic advert on a search engine
Virgin Atlantic is a well-known airline who fly from many airports around the world, including Manchester and London Heathrow.
Which? has reported that there are click to dial search scams involving fake adverts involving Virgin Atlantic. Which? tell the story of someone who needed to get flight details to book a car parking space at Manchester Airport. Which? relates.that “clicking the top search result connected her to someone claiming to work for the airline. They didn’t; it was a con”.
The full story can be read here.
Friendship fraud
Meanwhile it was reported on 22 March that scammers are using friendship groups on social media to befriend people, before making seemingly innocuous requests for sums of money around £50, before going on to defraud them of thousands of pounds over a lengthy period of time..
The scam is said to have many of the characteristics of romance scams.
The public is advised to look for gaps in the story of those requesting the money and if they are scammed to report the incident to Report fraud.
Seven free tools to help you beat the scammers
Which? has produced a guide with seven tools you can use to help you to beat the scammers. It includes help with blocking scam calls with screen blocking, filtering out scam emails in your inbox, using a password manager to secure your accounts and much more besides.
You can see the full guide to help you here .
Ten things every smartphone owner should do now to keep data safe
Similarly, Which? has compiled a list of ten things they would advise every owner of a smartphone to do in order to keep their data safe. These include checking for security updates, setting up Face unlock./Fingerprint unlock, locking your online accounts with two factor authentication and seven other useful tips as well.
You can read the full guide here .
How to use public wi-fi safely
Finally, Which? has also written a guide to how to use public wi-fi safely. These tips include verifying the network you are connecting to, checking for https, at the beginning of the web address keeping your software updated and five other useful tips.
You can read the full list here
Scam Sharer tool
For information on how to share scam warnings and help protect others, see Which?’s Scam Sharer tool.
