Woodkirk Stone
Metro Bank is taking action to protect its customers as well as Britons in general, and each month highlights one scam it finds particularly worrying. This month, he warned against identity theft scams, disguising a communication so that it appears to come from a known trusted source. Rather, it is intended to allow a crook to defraud a person. Unfortunately, this is a problem that has increased recently as it comes in a wide variety of forms to catch people off guard.
As a result, individuals are urged to pay attention to the matter and ensure that they do not end up as the next victim – as the consequences can be severe and devastating.
Identity theft takes many forms and can apply to websites, emails, phone calls, and text messages.
Sometimes this can be easy to spot, however, Metro Bank has warned that scammers are getting more sophisticated, making it harder to tell the real from the fake.
A common form of identity theft is through email, where the “spoofer” will send emails with a spoofed “From:” line.
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In another form of contact, phone number spoofing is also common, and crooks are known to impersonate the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the National Crime Agency, or other government departments to strengthen their so-called legitimacy.
Fraudsters, Metro Bank warns, will spoof the phone numbers they call from in the hopes of getting people to take their calls and answer intrusive questions they may ask.
Finally, website spoofing is also on the rise in terms of use by scammers. In this case, a website is designed to mimic an existing site known and trusted by the user.
Fraudsters will use it as a facade to harvest login information and other personal information from users. In this sense, it could be used in conjunction with the other types of spoofing mentioned above.
Adam Speakman, Fraud and Investigations Manager at Metro Bank, said: “With an increase in authorized push payment scams and card scams, it is important that customers are extremely vigilant about the contact they receive.
“Criminals are experts at masquerading as people, organizations and the police, so it can be difficult to spot fraudulent text messages, emails and phone calls. “
All is not lost, however, and there are sensible ways for Brits to take steps to protect themselves from the increasingly sophisticated techniques of these scammers.
First of all, Brits are urged to always review all communications they receive. They should be careful with poor spelling and incorrect or inconsistent grammar, as these errors are often indicators of impersonation.
Individuals should never take phone calls at face value and should be wary of callers asking for personal information. Likewise, no one should ever be forced to make a decision. If something doesn’t look right, they should always hang up.
Likewise, people can also use another form of communication to confirm that the information they receive is legitimate. For example, if a person receives a request / invoice via SMS or email, they should call the company or person to confirm.
For emails, the sender address should always be verified, and for websites, individuals can look up the URL. No one should ever click on any links or attachments in unexpected text messages or emails.
Finally, Metro Bank has warned Britons to never respond to requests for money or important personal information such as bank details or passwords.