SKY has warned over three different types of attacks that aim to steal your money or private info.
They’re all similar but come via different routes – and you need to be on high alert for all of them.
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The first type of attack is called phishing.
This is an extremely common type of scam that strikes over email.
“Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers,” Sky explained.
“Phishing emails can differ, but be careful of unsolicited or unexpected emails.”
Next up is smishing, which is just like phishing but over text.
Smishing texts can take many different forms.
But Sky warned that they are “likely marked as Urgent or prompt you to do something immediately”.
“Be wary of unsolicited or unexpected texts,” Sky explained.
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Finally there’s a third type of attack called vishing.
If you can’t guess: it’s when someone scams you using their voice over the phone.
These phone calls or voicemail messages follow a similar pattern of pretending
They can often be very convincing, and you can feel more pressured to act while in a direct conversation with someone.
The person may know information about you, and sound threatening on the phone.
But it’s important to take your time.
Remember that you can always say that you’ll call the company directly later.
Don’t use contact details given to you over the phone – and don’t accept a callback from the person on the other end of the line.
Instead use the official phone number on the website of Sky or whoever else the caller was claiming to represent.
The trick to countering phishing, smishing and vishing is to take time before handing over any information.
If you give up financial or private info, you could be stolen from or defrauded in a matter of seconds.
And once your money or private data is in the hands of cyber-criminals, it’s very difficult to get it back.
These types of scams are increasingly sophisticated and convincing, so there’s a real risk of falling one.
The best advice is to simply be highly suspicious of any unsolicited messages, and to contact companies directly to verify any claims.
