This week a warning about a PayPal fraud where the scammers use Facebook Messenger to pretend to be a friend or relative asking with help to use a Paypal account after they’ve supposedly sold an item on ebay. If you’re on Social Media and have a Paypal account then this is one for you.
All the details about this are on this .pdf briefing note from the Police or you can read about it here. Over £44k has so far been defrauded from victims in this way. Be warned.
You can start to see a pattern in the scams with this recent warning about scams via Instagram here and about PayPal fraud here.
Visit www.cyberaware.gov.uk to get good advice on keeping safe.
Join in our discussions on our private Network space at www.biglocalnorthcleethorpes.org.uk/nelwatchnetwork if you are concerned about scams.
Of course not all scams are social media or internet related. If you never saw it when we shared it before, have a read of the Little Book of Big Scams here as it explains lots about the different types of scams to be aware of.
Scams are far too much in the headlines at the moment. Surveys have shown that scammers and fraudsters have been very busy exploiting peoples vulnerabilities during lockdown. You can read a couple of recent news stories here (on the BBC) and here (on the Independent) and all of them are full of warnings about watch out for.
Being informed and aware is the best starting point. So keep on your toes!
No Scam bulletin next week I’m afraid, but we’ll be back in two weeks.
In the meantime join us on the Network Discussion site to continue the conversations.
Karl Elliott, karl@vanel.org.uk
Development Manager, VANEL
and development support for NEL Watch