Have you gotten an email in the last few weeks saying you have a traffic violation from the London Police? How about a knock on your door from the Alzheimer’s Society, looking for cash donations?
Scams are a rising trend in London and the surrounding areas, as scam artists look to take advantage of unsuspecting people.
“There are a number of scams out in the city of London and elsewhere” said Media Relations Officer Sandasha Bough.
What are scammers trying to gain from these fake causes? Well, money of course.
“Be it through your banking information, or getting into your personal information on your computer, there’s different ways they can do that,” said Bough.
“They could have access to all of your passwords and banking information if those things are saved on our device.”
It’s one thing to disregard an email scam, as it can easily be deleted. But for the scammers asking for in-person donations, and claiming to be from a legitimate organization, it gets tricky.
Door to door scams can be extremely hard to recognize, especially because there are always so many things going on in London.
“It’s almost like we’re easy prey for these scam artists,” said Bruce Wray, the Communications Manager at the Alzheimer’s Society of London and Middlesex.
“People should evaluate the feel of the situation; does this seem like a logical thing that’s happening right now?”
Scammers are looking to take advantage; whether it’s through university or college emails, fake traffic violations or tax returns, or in-person scams, the damage done can be catastrophic.
But there are ways you can protect yourself.
“Set your privacy settings in your email to very high, so that the only emails you are receiving are from your known contacts,” explained Bough.
“Don’t ever visit unwanted sites from individuals, and delete unwanted emails as soon as you get them. If you don’t recognize the sender, don’t open it.”
While fraud continue to circulate in London and beyond, by taking the proper precautions, people can stay safe from falling victim to these scams.
