Give yourself time and double check online messages before clicking or transferring money
It comes as new legislation wants to make platforms responsible for protecting users from fraudulent ads that ask for money
We're all being urged to give ourselves time and double check all online messages, before clicking on any links or transferring money.
It comes as a new online safety bill is being brought to Parliament, that would require all platforms to protect people from scams created by others users and fraudulent ads that ask for money.
Ruth Noble is a counsellor from Diss.
She told us that taking a breath is key and we should never just accept things as fact:
"If we give ourselves a little bit more time to think about it, then we might be able to spot that maybe it's not real or perhaps that it doesn't fit with what we already know. But because they put that pressure on us and say that we've got to act now, then we don't check it out and we just do it.
If something comes up unexpected and it's too good to be true, question it because they want to put pressure on you. So, you need to stop, take a breath, think about it and ask yourself is this something I need or something I can trust?
If it's something like an email from somebody that you don't know, have a look at who it's from and if you don't recognise it don't click on the link. Give yourself time to question it and go and talk to people you know, face-to-face".
She concluded by explaining why online scamsters can be successful:
"The scams that we get sometimes look like they are from the Government or the NHS. So, we're not going to question that, we are just going to do what we are told because those are the people who are supposed to be keeping us safe, we're supposed to be trusting them. We do kind of think that they know what they are talking about. We are conditioned to trust them".