People in Gedling borough are being urged to put their scam spotting skills to the test by taking an online quiz put together to raise awareness about the dangers crooks and fraudsters pose to our cash.
Industry body UK Finance has created the online quiz as part of Take Five to Stop Fraud week (January 22-26).
The organisation said they hope the test will highlight some of the “very sophisticated methods” being used by crooks and that everyone is at risk of being conned at some point in their lives.
You can find the online quiz here.
Take Five To Stop Fraud Week (January 22-26) is part of a national campaign from Financial Fraud Action UK and the Government, backed by the banking industry coming together to tackle fraud.
The campaign is urging people of all ages to remember a simple but effective phrase if they receive an unsolicited request for personal or financial information: ‘My money? My info? I don’t think so.’
Using the hashtag #TakeFiveWeek, the initiative is asking people to take five minutes to tell five other people about the campaign, from friends and family to colleagues and customers.
These are the three most common scams:
- Requests to move money – Fraudsters may dupe you into making authorised payments to criminals, by pretending to be builders or lawyers asking for money to be transferred as part of completed work.
- Clicking on links in emails and texts – You might get a text or email that looks like it’s from a legitimate company (such as PayPal), saying urgent action is required on your account and telling you to click a link.
- Personal information – Fraudsters often pretend to be from organisations like the Inland Revenue, saying you are due a refund and asking for personal details.
Here are some tips from the Take Five campaign to help you spot fraud:
- A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account. Only give out your personal or financial details to use a service that you have given your consent to, that you trust and that you are expecting to be contacted by.
- Don’t be tricked into giving a fraudster access to your personal or financial details. Never automatically click on a link in an unexpected email or text.
- Always question uninvited approaches in case it’s a scam. Instead, contact the company directly using a known email or phone number.
