nbn™ promotes scam awareness
At a recent Lecture Series event at Mudgimba, Keir Tierney from nbn™ briefed the audience on cyber safety and security, specifically to do with identifying scams that are becoming more and more sophisticated and devious in the objective of extracting personal data that can be used to their financial advantage.
The following advice in dot point form covers how to identify scam calls and remote access scams particularly on the nbn™ network but the points also relate to any scam that aims to impersonate a large organisation such as the tax office, Australia Post, etc.
Is it really nbn™ ? Tips to spot a scam
The majority of nbn impersonations are classified as remote access scams. This means scammers use a ‘hacking’ scenario to try to take advantage of people. They contact their target, tell them they’ve been experiencing connection issues or that they’ve been hacked, and claim to be calling from nbn to help resolve the issue.
To help you identify a scam, remember nbn will not:
- call and ask to access your computer or advise that you’re going to be disconnected
- sell phone or internet services directly to the public, as nbn™ is a wholesaler.
- make automated calls such as robocalls to advise of disconnections from the nbn™ network or existing copper phone line services.
Do not engage with these calls. This means you should:
- never give an unsolicited caller remote access to your computer or devices by installing programs, such as Team Viewer
- never share financial information – for example, bank, credit or gift card details – or personal details with an unsolicited caller or door knockers trying to seek payment for a service over the nbn™ network
- hang up and call your phone and internet provider, if in doubt, using their official customer service centre phone number (shown on your bill or on their company website) to check if the call is legitimate
- not use contact details supplied by the caller.
Plan your Digital Legacy
You can help your loved ones by planning what will happen to your digital presence after you pass away. We accumulate a lot of assets throughout our lives. Most people ensure that their precious items like houses, cars, finances and possessions are left to children and loved ones via a Will.
But, even though it may be our most enduring legacy, few of us actually spend time planning for our digital presence after we die.
To find out more about Digital Legacies and how to prepare, this Key Issues – Digital Legacies link is probably the most comprehensive write up on the topic.
Is your Email on a Data Breaches List?
To check if your email address is associated with any services that have had data breaches, you can check here. Remember that, if you search your email here and it says there’s been a breach on an associated service, it doesn’t mean you’ve been hacked necessarily – although it’s a good idea to change the password on that service, and any other services that you’ve subscribed to with the same email address and password combination.
Domain Age
Domain Age is one of the big factors in the search engines ranking of your website. A domain that is registered more than a year ago can rank better as compared to the new websites. Moz also consider this factor when assigning website authority to a website. A website registered more than five years ago is considered as a stable company.
Prepostseo Domain is a checker tool allows you to check the time, when your domain name was registered and when it was updated last time. Check Domain Age here.
For more information on how to identify and avoid potential scammers, or for advice if you suspect you’ve been scammed, visit nbn.com.au/scamadvice
Another link that covers good scam awareness detail and online safety info is here: Are you ready to get ScamFit