Online security, scams and how to keep safe.

Impersonations

We recently started to receive some interesting, if not colourful, enquiries regarding recruitment. This wasn't the normal type of spam websites receive but more direct messages from "potential employees".

It turns out that we had been targeted by someone in the US who was using our name as a front for an employment scam. They contacted people with a false offer of work in the United States and after a yahoo messenger chat tried to get the candidate to give them their bank details and other personal information.

Confirm who you are talking to

You should always be cautious of being contacted directly from any business unless you are sure that you know who you are communicating with.

One way to confirm a genuine caller if you have received a phone call that sounds dubious is to call back using the numbers on the official websites (not ones given to you) and ask about your caller and the reason why you have been contacted.

Protect your information

Never give personal details such as date of birth, address, financial details or user names to someone you do not trust. (You should also never share passwords with anyone, but you of course knew that!)

A large amount of fraud and scams are carried out by impersonating users. This is also something businesses need to be diligent about.

Please report all types of online fraud and scams to the police https://reportlite.actionfraud.police.uk/.