Online safety and scam prevention

What do you know already about online safety and scam prevention? Threats come from diverse sources. You may have a personal story to share that could educate us. Threats seem to increase in volume when your tax return comes back. With voice-mimicking software and Artificial intelligence, it’s getting harder to tell a scam. Some people shelter themselves in places with curtains closed, streaming TV from one of several sources. You might have a landline exclusively, not any kind of mobile device. It’s not a Smartphone if you have one. Do you watch YouTube on your TV and Netflix among others you pay for, certainly free Pluto TV? No internet at all? How are you reading this? All good… Ty for viewing. Are you at the Public Library? Are you still upset that Air TV and AM Radio are history? In 99.5% or more of North America in 2024, this happened in the mid 1980s. Are you the safest of us? The truth of the matter, no one is completely safe, you’re not alone in that thought. Better keep reading!

Let us think about a single person with a lower aged relative, let us say a sister’s son. The single person is one who does not use a cell phone, as described above. The phone rings. the person answers. A voice speaks. It sounds like the sister’s kid. It says the boy is in trouble. The cops have arrested him, and he needs bail money. Please help. He’s headed for prison, to do hard time, someone died. What would you do in that situation? Get contact info of the detachment, run to Western Union and transfer the funds to bail your favourite sibling’s son out of the slammer? Seriously? Would it not be better to ask “Did you contact ‘the mother’s name’ and see if she can help?” then wait for a response? If it’s legit, the caller will know it to be the kid’s mother. If not, they’ll likely hang up. Ding Ding Ding. You just got saved from a phone scam! It does happen in the digital world as well, even texts and certainly Facebook, social media messages can be suspect. Always suspect and question, perhaps call the person or organization directly at the known contact number, preferably a landline or face-to-face encounter. Checking a credit app as well to see if that transaction did take place, is another measure.

Websites you visit can also be suspect. Always make sure the URL reads https in the prefix. If it looks questionable, check the Privacy Page of the website. That’s only a starter. Make double sure of website credibility before entering credit card details, or downloading anything. Cookies come innocently enough, but they could follow you through your online adventures, slowing your system down and acting suspiciously to spyware trackers. Learn to clean your cache regularly. You might not need to recycle your machine. If you get emails from a Saudi Prince needing to use your bank account details to free that ruler from the prison so dark and lonely and lead the citizens to freedom once freed himself…. You know this person’s language is not English, it is rampant with spelling errors barely readable and only ‘banking info’ and ‘pay needed’ are understandably printed…. Trustworthy? That’s old-school hacking. Spelling errors are a dead giveaway. Today’s Email scams come looking like bank notices, with questionable-looking links and poor spelling. Question them particularly if you don’t bank at that institution. Texts come looking like Visa warnings about hacking. Canada Post needs your address info for delivery, another text scam: package received, incomplete address. Questions can be asked at the institution mentioned in the email you suspect is a scam. Always be careful and never click links you don’t know are credible from a source you know. Keep your credit card details secure, particularly those 3 numbers on the back.

If you’ve been the victim of a scam, we’re very sorry that it happened to you. We hope all you lost was a little money and learned a lesson. Scam prevention committees exist behind every public service industry and legitimate business that retails online. Something recently happened to a Facebook post warning about hacker activity, by Handy Circle. It opened a flurry of hacker activity, commenting with inviting links to clean any possible attack and prevent more. Do you trust those links? Someone ‘tested them’ before we dealt with them to prove they were scams. Seriously, learn from that clicker, don’t ever respond or click them. Reporting them, lets Facebook determine the link quality and saves you from a virus or remote hacking software installation. Responding fast and blocking, reporting those comments on your post saves your contacts from inadvertently clicking if they think they need that service they promise. They will come into your feeds and plug it with all sorts of material that is often not family-safe, as the first test of your defenses. Facebook and other social media are rampant with creepy messages and friend requests from strangers and mimicked personal contact suggestions. Know the environment and do not take all friend requests.