Last year, over $480 million was lost to scams. Scammers have become more sophisticated in the ways they contact people, and can often impersonate a person or business for weeks, months or even years to defraud a victim of their hard earned money.
Whenever you're using any online platform, keep these tips in mind to ensure you are staying safe and keeping your personal information secure.
- Make your social media profiles private and limit your audience to only your known family and friends.
- Do not place any sensitive personal information on social media – this includes things like your date of birth, contact details or any tax or social security information.
- Use strong passwords.
- Enable 2-Factor authorisation on your accounts, where possible.
- Watch out for AI generated photos and videos – these are often used by scammers, particularly to endorse fake products, events or celebrity endorsements for products.
- Always review the profiles of any seller before you make a purchase online and only use reputable reselling websites.
- Don’t click on pops ups you receive while you’re on the internet – these can often be a scam or contain malware.
- If paying an invoice, call the company you’re paying first, to confirm the payment details on the invoice are correct
- Make sure you have anti-virus software installed on your electronic devices.
- Learn how to do a reverse image search online – this might help you identify if a picture you’ve received is from a legitimate source.
Visit our Fraud and Scams hub to find out more.