Fraudsters see opportunity where you see crisis.

Fraudsters

After any major incident, many people turn to the internet to find out more information and to see if there is any way in which they can help.

The majority of us will be shocked by tragic events as we see them unfold, more so when the incident is closer to home.

Unfortunately, the fraudsters know this, and don't look at these events with sympathy, but look at them as an opportunity to scam people.

Scams

Scams that crop up after an incident can vary and take on many forms. They can be from people just out to harvest 'likes' by creating and sharing memes or making up stories about fictitious people 'who were there' when it happened, to people out to pinch your bank details. These may come via email or social media and will use any tactics then can to pull on your heart strings, expect them to exploit photos of affected people and paint sad stories to get you to hand over your money.

Who To Trust

Use some common sense when deciding if a link you're about to click is genuine. 

• If the link came via email, check with the email sender that they intended to send it, they many not be aware their account has been compromised.
• Check the validity of any links before you click them, it may say www.TrustWorthyWebsite.com in the text, but hover over it an find out where it's really going to send you first.
• Check with someone in authority, if a Just Giving page has been setup by Bob claiming that he's raising money for the recent incident, how can you be sure your donation is going where he says? 
• Just seen a photo of a young child with a caption "This person is missing, please share this link to help find her" - think... How is sharing this link going to help find someone?