Cyber safety/crime prevention There are a number of sensible and simple measures to take in order to keep yourself safe online, which include identity theft and criminals stealing your personal and financial data to defraud you or steal from your bank account. Precautions are as simple as choosing safe passwords and ensuring you have adequate antivirus/antispyware installed, to learning how to distinguish between genuine and fraudulent websites and emails. If you cannot remember loads of different passwords and always use one – think about adding a suffix – so Mickeymouseebay – mickeymousepaypal – mickymousewindows – mickeymouseitunes etc. Also think about replacing any letter Ls with a figure such as 1s. Simple but effective. For more help there are a number of useful websites that provide a wealth of information: www.GetSafeOnline.org www.CyberStreetWise.com
If you have been a victim of fraud, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk . People receiving scam emails are urged to report them to Action Fraud and they will forward them to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau run by the City of London Police for collation and analysis. This will enable crucial intelligence to be gathered and preventative action to be taken. The activity will seek to disrupt the fraudsters and close down the links between them and the victim. Last year (January 2015 – December 2015) they received on average 8,000 reports per month, with 96,699 people reporting that they had received a phishing scam.
More security advice/scams can be found on our Neighbourhood Action Group/Neighbourhood Watch website
www.uknags.org.uk/newbury_south_west
Author: Penny Post
Penny Post is a community notice board serving West Berkshire, Wantage, Swindon, Marlborough and surrounding areas so there
