Are we safe on the Internet or on the Mobile?

Watching an uncomfortable TV programme concerning the number of scams going around, it was disturbing to hear we could be the country losing the most money to scammers. That’s a signal to me, most of us muck-dwellers don’t take scams very seriously or rather if we do worry about it, do not take security of our mobiles and other tech very seriously. Shown was a bit of tech that could immobilise WiFi signals around about 300 yards. WiFi doorbells and routers would just cease to work and hence no longer guard your possessions. Even worse, someone lost £120,000 in a proposed property buying exercise in Spain, thanks to a almost identical email address. Meaning whilst the buyer thought she was negotiating and talking to the solicitor, she was writing to the scammers. To top it all she thought it prudent to transfer the money in one lot, not even having seen the property in situ. Only on WiFi. Why did she? Only God knows, in this country you would pay a holding fee or deposit and only pay the remainder when you have seen the paperwork and deeds. I think as she voluntarily paid the cash over, she might have quite a difficult time to recover her money. If at all possible.

How can we guard against such shenanigans? Well, difficult but we can do certain things quite easily. Install a VPN to begin with. There are free ones but it would be better to pay for one. All should understand that those providing a free VPN have to make money somewhere and how do you think they do? Yes, sell your data. The two best ones are NordVPN and ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN also comes with a very good free password manager. For the more tech savvy you can make your own VPN as well via OpenVPN. Consider to change from Windows to Linux. I am not now going to explain except to say Linux is a heck of a lot safer to use. Anyway, installing a VPN like ExpressVPN will also cover your mobile. You will get up to 8 items that can be covered. More than enough for most households.

Next you might consider checking whether your passwords have been compromised. Look at a software site called ‘Have I been pwned?’ As the TV guy showed, the most used password in the world is ‘123456’. Believe it and it is no wonder those get in line to be fleeced fast. Change those as soon as possible.

Another scam popular is cloning mobile telephone numbers. The scammer will have collected some personal data of the intended victim (you will be surprised how easy that is!). Next he/she will attempt to get a new SIM from the mobile company as he/she knows the number, address etc and having obtained it puts that in his/her mobile. Now the original user will find being locked out as all details are now in the scammers possession. Think bank details and all your contact details. Fortunately a lot of mobile companies have tightened up somewhat but it is also entirely up to the person in the shop whether they will provide that service without asking questions to the attempting scammer. Just be aware it could happen. You might consider telling your provider to set a password to allow changes that only you can make. Finally although not by far the end of it all, tell your bank to warn you if money is spent over a set amount. Again, lots of banks use 2F security nowadays but it pays to be careful.

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