A quick quiz can test your digital intelligence and can tell you if you are updated enough to deal with the modern financial and identity theft phishing schemes or not. As per statistics, only 1 in 10 people manages to score a full 100. That means that majority of them is exposed to the threat of online scams.
The quiz is created as a part of “Take Five To Stop Fraud Week” (January 22-26), conducted by the UK government. The test shows some hypothetical scenarios that range from emails to text alerts and the person has to determine whether they are real or scams. Those days are long gone when a Nigerian Princess needed a quick loan. Now the scammers have improved their ways of scamming.
If you have failed to spot all the signs that are questionable, you should remember some basic key points. For example, no bank ever asks for your passwords, PINs or usernames. They will also never request you to move your money to any other account or bank. If you receive an email or text with a link in it, never click on it. The click might appear from a company that you are familiar with, but you don’t need to give them your information. These links send a false version of a website which is often very convincing. These links make you send them your personal details. Or can install a malware file on your computer from the same link.
In 2017, a scam masqueraded like Google Chrome’s pop-up and made several users download an ‘update’ that was necessary to fix a text file issue. Similarly, another email circulated which was notifying users that someone has shared a Google Doc file with them. If the link was clicked, the page was redirected to open a Google page which showed all the accounts that were listed on Google. Just by clicking on the link, the users were granting access to scammers to all the personal data and emails using a third-party plug-in.
Just like links, you should not open any attachments on mysterious emails. If you are not sure about the email’s origin, check the recipient field. It will show the sender’s email and if its a scam you will get to know about it just by reading the whole email id.
For the phone-based scams, you should always use a trusted phone number while dealing with a financial institution or an individual who claims to be a part of it. If they contact you from unknown numbers and want you to give your personal information you should be aware of it. If you call the number given in an email or text, they will offer you huge giveaways and request you to transfer some funds for safe-keeping and will also induce a sense of urgency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Pra3Ugfk4
If you are guilty of being played by these scammers and have scored badly in the quiz, don’t lose heart, since you are not alone. It was reported in the campaign that the total financial loss faced in 2016 was almost 768.8 million Euros. You can keep yourself safe by changing your passwords and keeping your personal information to yourself. Take the test by clicking here!