A new campaign has been launched to help residents across the region stay secure while shopping online during the festive season.
Get Safe Online has teamed up with North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin and North Wales Police to help protect individuals from scams.
This time of year sees a rise in online fraud with scammers targeting those purchasing online during the Black Friday and Christmas shopping rush.
Many of these scams often take place on social media, with fraudsters hacking accounts and impersonating friends or family to sell fake items.
Other methods used to steal personal information include fake text messages or emails which claim to be from a courier service.
Often these messages say that there has been an issue with your parcel delivery and ask you to click on a link which requires you to enter personal information.
If in doubt – contact your courier direct about your delivery and never click on any links from numbers that you don’t recognise.
Detective Constable Roheryn Evans from North Wales Police’s Cyber Crime Team further added: “Christmas and New Year are full of festive cheer for fraudsters and online criminals, who will look to exploit those who are searching for last minute deals online, by making the deal look fantastic. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”
“A large proportion of scams take place on social media. It’s likely that some of your friends or family will have their account hacked.
“From here, scammers will use their identity to make it look like your friend is selling items. Whenever you buy things on social media, don’t pay until they’ve handed over the goods, or you’ve double checked by calling them that the advert is genuine.
“Don’t forget, always do your checks to make sure you’re buying from a reputable business or seller and that your payment method has protection.”
“Christmas is a time where we should enjoy spending time with our loved ones, not worrying about whether presents we have ordered online will arrive, whether we have been scammed, or if our family members are accessing negative content on the internet,” said Andy Dunbobbin, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales.
“We have enough to think about, without worrying about all that.
“This is why, as Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, I am urging people to follow these simple steps from Get Safe Online, which will hopefully help all of us to stay safe during the Festive Season.”
With more people now choosing to shop online the PCC and Get Safe Online have issued tips to help reduce the risk of falling victim to scammers this Christmas:
- Online purchases: Fraudulent advertisements and websites, insecure payment pages and counterfeit goods are commonplace. Never pay someone you don’t know by bank transfer if you haven’t seen the goods in person.
- Pre-owned devices: If you’re selling or gifting a computer, mobile device or console, carry out a factory reset to erase your data. Find out how from the manufacturer’s website. If you’ve bought or been given a pre-owned device, remove the previous owner’s settings and data if this hasn’t already been done.
- Delivery scams: Both personal purchases and gifts from others can arrive by courier or in the post. A favourite scam this time of year is a text or email telling you there’s a delivery or re-delivery fee. If in any doubt, always call the courier or retailer using a number / contact details that you know to be correct.
- Phones, tablets and computers: Safeguard new or pre-owned smartphones, tablets and computers with a reputable security app/software. Add a new and unique PIN or passcode as soon as you power up. Set up automatic backups of all your documents and photos so you don’t lose them. Review privacy and location settings on new and existing devices.
- Smart devices: Set up new and unique passwords.
- Updates: Set software, app and operating system updates to update automatically on all your devices to avoid malware, which could lead to fraud, identity theft or snooping.
- Gaming: Avoid potential issues resulting from pirated games, griefing and in-game overspending. Keep track of how much time you’re spending gaming. Don’t share private information on chats. Keep an eye on your kids’ gaming by checking games’ PEGI age limits and talking with them about who they’re playing and chatting with.
- Oversharing: Make sure what you share online is respectful and doesn’t reveal confidential, sensitive or embarrassing information about yourself or others, including family members and friends. If you’re out or away over the break, keep it to yourself, as burglars love social media too.
- Out and about: Don’t use Wi-Fi hotspots in cafés, pubs, hotels, on public transport and other public places for anything confidential as they could be either insecure or fraudulent.
Tony Neate, CEO at Get Safe Online, a service commissioned by the PCC and the local police force, said: “Don’t give a cyber criminal a happy New Year.
“Read our simple, easy-to-follow advice on protecting yourself, your family, finances and devices online to have a safe, secure and confident experience this Christmas.
“Our tips are easy and could make the difference between being safe, or not, online this December.”
For further tips and advice visit www.getsafeonline.org
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