In Australia in 2017 there were 56,000 reports filed with the ACCC’s Scamwatch involving ransomware, identity theft, phishing, hacking and online shopping scams alone and 160,000 in total.
In January 2018, nearly $11,000,000 was lost to online scams ranging from investment schemes to online shopping.
The rise of ransomware is causing a lot of heartache for Australians, 9 News reported that victims of ransomware are likely to lose at least $1000 on average whereas victims of phishing scams are at risk of losing more.
Australians lost $11,000,000 in January, 2018 alone with $100 million lost in total in 2017 through online frauds and scams
Ransomware is defined as a type of malicious software which is designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid, a ‘ransom.’
A high profile ransomware case involving Russia’s biggest oil company and the Australian offices of Global law firm DLA Piper, The Guardian reported in 2017.
In this case DLA Piper was forced to to take down its entire IT network after a ‘major cyber incident’ occurred.
Phishing scams are the practice of creating a duplicate template of an official website designed to lure unsuspecting consumers into giving their bank and personal details to a seemingly reputable company.
Victims of phishing are more likely to lose $3000 on average.
The Verve recently reported that a phishing attack on Snapchat compromised 50,000 Snapchat users.
Using public WiFi increases the risk of falling victim to online scams and users are advised to avoid using sites with their personal details while on a public WiFi network
With online consumerism becoming increasingly popular people need to be more aware of the risks and how t protect themselves against online scams.
Public WiFi hot spots are also becoming increasingly risky areas and you should always keep your personal details safe when accessing pubic WiFi.
In short don’t use public WiFi to do your banking or anything else that requires you to enter your personal or banking details.
Internet security software for your home computer is the first and easiest way to help protect yourself against scams and there are plenty on the market to choose from.
Fake emails are a common scam employed by fraudsters and can infect your device with a number of viruses or could lead you down a rabbit hole of sites and introduce ransomware to the mix.
People are advised not to trust any email at face value just because it has come from what looks like a reputable company, look and look again and then visit the official website of the company to make direct contact in regards to the email.
And the mobile phone, which most if not all people posses, should always be protected by a strong password, as with all other devises, strong security starts with a strong password.