How to be safe online
As we’re all confined to our homes, we’re also spending a lot more time online and unfortunately this is something that cyber criminals are exploiting.
Action Fraud has already reported a 400% increase in reports of online fraud in March as scammers take advantage of people who are lonely, vulnerable and anxious about the Coronavirus.
I would therefore urge you to be particularly vigilant about emails, texts messages and phone calls you receive, and be wary of anyone asking for your personal information such as bank details, passwords and log ins. No provider would ever ask you for these.
Fraudulent messages are designed to lure you into giving out sensitive information, or, in the case of emails, clicking on a link or attachment that is likely to introduce a virus onto your computer.
Even though these messages are usually very convincing and appear to come from a legitimate source, there are ways you can spot them:
If it’s an email, look at the sender’s email address. You can do this by hovering your cursor over it – If the domain name (the bit after the @ symbol) doesn’t match the company they’re saying they’re from – for example ‘@pinkcontract’ instead of ‘@HMRC’ - then it’s a reason to be suspicious.
A fake email address can also contain random numbers and an unusual suffix, for example something that doesn’t end with a ‘.com’ ‘.co.uk’ or a ‘.org’.
Check the content of the message – does it include poor grammar and spelling and does it seem overly official?
Are they asking you to provide personal information and are they pressuring you into providing this in a hurry?
I don’t wish to alarm you by directing your attention to this - goodness knows we already have enough to contend with – but forearmed is forewarned as they say.
Please let me know if you’re in any way concerned about messages you receive.
You can of course use your Smarter Financial Planning secure portal, which enables you to send messages to me safely, and view your documents and valuations. If you haven’t already registered, it’s simple to do. All you need is your email address.
For further reading, please take a look at the FCA’s piece on How to Avoid Pension Scams.