I’m sure all of us at one point or another purchased something with our savings or credit card, and before the words APPROVED flashed up on our screen have said a little prayer to ourselves (or crossed our fingers) in hopes that it all went through OK. This usually happens because we hope that there are funds within the account. For some people this is usually because we have over spent, or for some unfortunate people, because they have been a victim of hacking. If you haven’t been a victim of hacking, then we all know someone who has.
We can be careful all we want, but the reality is that it is real, and that you won’t be aware of when it happens as it could happen to anyone of us any day. Unfortunately for most people that this happens to, don’t realise how major this issue is until it does happen. Not only do you lose whatever funds are left within your account, but they can continue taking that money until your account is frozen. They can also steal other details from you – personal details – like your driver’s licence and then you will also become a victim of identity theft. Honestly, as scary as this may all seem, it is really only the tip of the iceberg. Stolen identity, loss of funds, anything that you use your computer for hacked into. Even your Facebook page, and your email will be view and maybe even your password changed so the humour and entertainment of hackers.
There are many ways that these types of thieves or hackers and access this type of information first. The most common is an email. They will pretend to be your bank, your internet provider, phone companies and many other companies saying that they need to upgrade their information for ‘security purposes’. They will even make everything look authentic. Big logos, signature at the bottom, official stamps... the list goes on. If you receive an email asking for anything personal, do not reply to it. If you think it actually may be your bank trying to contact you, the best advice I can give you is to call your bank, phone company etc directly and ask them about the email that you received. It is better to double check, then to regret it all later.
The other most common way people hack into your computer, is through pop up screens. If you do not know what a pop up screen is, it is just simple a screen that pops up when you click on a link. It will usually mention something like you are the 100th visitor today and you have won an iPad. I’m sure we all had drilled into our brains, if it is too good to be true it usually is. This is one of those examples. I can guarantee you, with any advertisement, pop up, or email that you receive (sometimes a phone call or a text message too) saying you have won something and you know for a fact you’ve never entered any competition, you haven’t won anything. This is just another way some people will try and get information from you. And you don’t even have to provide them with information, all these emails etc will do is give the hackers access to your computer and that’s all that they need to gain information of you.
The third most common way is through a phone call. Usually mentioning that they are from a marketing company trying to find out some information. Lately I have heard of people being contacted saying that they are from a telco company or even a PC expert claiming that they are aware that you have a virus on your own computer, and if you just give them your credit card information of even give them access to computer they will be able to fix this for you. Unless you have someone within your house or someone that you know who repairs computers, just hang up the phone when you receive one of these calls.
And the last example I can give you of people trying to gain your personally information are from door knockers themselves. Now I’m not saying that all sales people who door knock are frauds, but some of them are. I personally have had twice someone knock on my door claiming to be part of the electricity company and all they want me to do is sign a form. When I question the man more about this form he was very vague. When I asked which electricity company he represented, he said all of them. He tried to explain to me that the government had just passed a law that everyone can receive a high discount off their electricity bill but in order for the government to give this discount everyone had to sign a form. Strange huh? In the end I ended up finding out he was from a competing electricity company trying to get me to switch.
I can give you all the advice in the world, but the only one major advice that I can give to everyone is that if you have a bad feeling about it, don’t go through with it. If it looks like a dodgy email or the person on the phone doesn’t sound all that truthful, delete the email or hang up the phone. It’s OK to have bad manners sometimes, especially when you are trying to protect yourself and also your family. If you’ve also have had the unfortunate experience of being a victim of hacking, warn your friends, and let people know. The more we are all aware of the different types of dangers out there, the more we can all be prepared.
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