Police Scotland Warn Against Scams After Rise Of North East Cases
Police Scotland want people to be able to spot the signs of online and telephone scamming after a number of cases in the north east.
In one case, it's reported a woman in Oldmeldrum lost 99-thousand pounds in a so-called boiler room scam.
Fraudulent activity to be wary of includes phishing, boiler room fraud and online relationships. Phishing is when criminals use fake e-mails or web links to acquire sensitive personal information, such as passwords, usernames, or bank account details.
The main signs that an email may be fraudulent include, using generic terms like ‘Dear account holder’, the email states that urgent action is required, the message may contain an unrecognisable link, spelling errors or the email address is different from the trusted company's website. Be alert to emails from a company you normally have dealings with that state your payment method or credit card details have failed to register. Boiler room fraud is where a bogus stockbroker, usually based overseas, cold-calls investors and coerces someone into buying worthless shares.
Their tactics include assurances that a company is about to announce a major discovery in technology or mining, for instance, and that this will send the price of its shares soaring. Detective Inspector Iain McPhail, of the Economic Crime Unit, said: "So much of our daily routine and communications is now electronic and online, this has provided criminals with opportunities to exploit people in various ways. "Sadly financial crime is an area which is often under reported, mainly because the victims feel embarrassed and humiliated that they were conned out of sums of money and they quite often do not confide in other family members as they don't want people to know. "I would urge the public to be cyber savvy and if using the internet, to be wary of clicking on links that are emailed or appear in pop up boxes at random and to keep their virus software up to date on their computers. If in doubt do not click on any links you are unsure about. "Also the general advice is to never give out personal details, particularly financial details, or transfer money without doing some simple checks to ascertain if the product, service or company is legitimate. “Do not be bullied or pressured into buying anything over the telephone. If you are feeling uncomfortable with any conversation just hang up. Do not be attracted by a promise to make quick and easy money. If the offer is too good to be true, then it probably is."