As I posted before Christmas, scams are on the rise and are costing the good people of New Zealand a huge amount of money. (https://www.raspberryit.co.nz/post/online-scams-abound-are-you-safe) So how do you know if that email or message is legitimate. Here are a few things you can check:
Emails
· Look closely at the sender’s email address. Does the email address contain the business name after the ‘@’? If not, it could be a scam.
· Have you received an email the company before? If so, is this one from the same email address? Compare the name after the ‘@’ with what you’ve previously received. If it doesn’t match up, it could be a scam.
· Look at the grammar and formatting of the email. For many scammers English is a second language and there can be tell-tale signs that the email from someone not proficient in English.
· Be very careful with any links contained within an email. If in doubt, moving the mouse cursor over a link (without clicking on it), will pop up a small box showing where it connects to. If the URL in the pop-up box doesn’t match the business website, don’t click on it!
· A common scam is an email from DHL or another courier claiming that a package needs to be paid for to be released. Do not use the links in the email – contact the company through their website or via phone and confirm.
Messenger/Text messages
· Are you expecting to hear from this person? Do they sometimes send you links to things they’ve seen? If not, be careful. Contact them via another method to confirm what you’ve received.
· Does the link address look like the business website name? If not, don’t open it.
· Be careful with anyone sending links to “a photo I found of you”. Their Messenger account may be compromised.
General Safety
· Government organisations will always have a ‘.govt.nz’ web address suffix. Do not click on any links claiming to be from a government department that end in ‘.net.nz’ or ‘.co.nz’.
· If after all that you click on the link and it asks you to log in with an existing account (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, etc), DO NOT PROCEED! Unless you log into these accounts manually every time, the link is most likely a scam.
· If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
· If someone does get access to your account and demands payment to release it back to you, DO NOT PAY. You will not get the account back and they will keep demanding more money until you give up.
· If in doubt, contact the person/business through another means. Phone calls are good method, and most businesses publish their contact number on their website. Use Google or another search engine to find the site, so you know it is legitimate.
· If you think you’ve been scammed, report it to the appropriate authorities.
Here’s an example of a scam email that was recently caught by our spam system:
The first warning is the sender "Survey Rewards". This is not a company that I've had any business with previously. Second warning is the subject line "...your reward is waiting!" These two warnings are enough for me to ignore the email. But the biggest warnings are the links. "castelrose.info" does not in any way relate to Survey Rewards. This is clearly a scam.
This was an obvious example, but I do get some more subtle ones from time to time. The next time one comes through I will add it here.
Remember, if in doubt, don't open it! Contact us and we can help you identify if the message is legitimate.
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