Going online can make life easier in so many ways. We can keep in touch with family, do our banking, order our shopping, and share important moments with those far away. However, the anonymity provided by computer screens makes for the perfect place for people to take advantage of the vulnerable.
Online scams are becoming increasingly more common and hundreds of thousands of people are caught out each year. As of 2024, one third of Manx residents have been a victim of cybercrime. It is important to remember that this is nothing to be ashamed of, and there is support available to you if you need it.
This article uses some technical language and terms, which can all be found in our Cyber Glossary if you would like to find out what they mean.
Types of Online Scams
- Email Scams: Known as phishing, these sorts of scams are a common type of email fraud, where scammers send you an email pretending to be from a trusted organisation, to try and trick you into entering sensitive information on a fake website. These emails may have malicious attachments (e.g. files), which can cause harm to your computer when you open them. If you get an email from someone or from a company that you believe to be suspicious, please send it to our suspicious email reporting service at SERS@ocsia.im. If an email or text message seems strange or suspicious, it is safest to ignore it. But if it does seem important, it is best to contact the person or business on their normal/usual telephone number.
- Multi-factor authentication: Make sure that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is set up on all online accounts, including email accounts and social media accounts. But do not share or confirm any codes or tokens sent to you, unless you have requested them yourself.
- Fake Websites: Scammers can create websites that look like the real thing but that are actually fake and designed to persuade you to provide personal or financial information. These websites can look very convincing, but they are not real. If you need to visit a website, it is best to type it into the search engine yourself and not using a link you have received. When going online, only view websites that have an address starting with ‘https’ and show a padlock, as this means all of your data is encrypted and sent securely.
- Computer Viruses: A computer virus is designed to make it difficult to use your computer, usually through a type of malware. Some viruses can move from one device to another, while others are designed to steal your data or maliciously encrypt your files (ransomware). Computer viruses can be pesky to deal with, however, much like human viruses they can usually be removed. If you think you have got a virus or your computer is running slow or not as it usually does, contact a qualified computer technician and they can help you.
- Gift Card Scams: These types of scams involve a criminal demanding their victim to purchase gift cards to pay for an item or service. The scammer may pretend they are someone you know and then create a sense of urgency by saying that they are in difficult circumstances and need the money soon.
How Can I Protect Myself?
It probably sounds as though going online is really scary and that you are in danger, but this isn’t necessarily true. While using the internet does have its risks, there are ways to reduce them to keep yourself safe.
- Keep your passwords strong: Using strong passwords that are different for each service and website will help keep you safe online. We recommend your password is made up of three unrelated but memorable words, along with a number and special character (e.g. GreenComputerChicken123!). Avoid using passwords with names, birthdays, or personal information.
- Install security software on your computer: Anti-virus software is designed to search your computer for viruses and malicious software, while trying to remove them before they infect and impact your device. Anti-spyware is designed to stop unwanted adverts and programs from popping up and tracking your activity when online. You can purchase security packages from reputable providers (such as McAfee or Norton), or there are free packages available online (such as AVG and Avast), however, these may not be as good as the paid packages. You can also download security software onto your mobile devices, like your mobile phone or tablet.
- Protect your wireless network: To access the internet you are probably using Wi-Fi, and you do not want those nearby accessing it. When you buy a router, you can configure it to require a password to be entered by anyone wishing to use your Wi-Fi. You can also add a firewall to monitor any traffic in and out of your network, and restrict unauthorised access.
- Keep your devices updated: You have probably seen a notification on your computer or mobile phone telling you that you need to update and restart your device. This can be annoying to do, but is the best way to protect your device and software. Criminals will use vulnerabilities in your system to try and gain access, but by updating your software and applying patches you stop them from using these vulnerabilities as entry points.
- Set privacy controls on your accounts: When you create an email or social media account you can apply privacy settings to decide who can contact you or view your profile. By setting these you get to control whether or not people who do not know you can reach you and see your personal information. We recommend that you limit the personal information you add to these accounts, and use privacy controls to restrict who can view your profiles to just those you know personally and have looked up yourself.
What should I do if I have been a victim?
As mentioned previously, this is nothing to be ashamed of, so you should not keep quiet. If you might have been a victim of any sort of crime online, you can report it, and support is available.
- Report the incident to us using our Cyber Concern Reporting Form. (The report allows you to share the details with the Police.)
- Forward the suspicious email to us at SERS@ocsia.im.
- Call your bank first if you have lost money or if you think you could have provided financial details to a scammer.
Please take a look at our short video below for some quick tips about staying safe online. We also have a booklet which goes into more detail about online threats and safety tips which can be downloaded from the downloadable documents section below the video.
Downloadable documents
Carer's Guide - Online Safety for Older People (PDF)
This page was last reviewed 30/09/2024