Scams, hacking and backup.

Funny how in the click of a mouse, things can go very wrong on your computer.  If you are very careful what you click on, you shouldn’t have any problems.  Once you have made a mistake, it could be very costly to put right or take you a lot of time. 

This email arrived for me a few weeks ago.

Refund Reference Number is: Ref/14377/2014

Dear Taxpayer,

*Refund Amount : GBP 521.78

>> Your *Refund Reference Number is: Ref/14377/2014 <<

*************************

Account ID: 748200162

E-mail ID: 930155328

*************************

NOTE: If you've received an Income Tax 'repayment' it will either be following a claim you've made or becouse

HM Revenue & Customs has received new information about your taxable income or entitlement to allowances.

The refund may come through your tax code or as a payment and could relate to the current tax year or earlier years.

CLICK HERE to submit your tax refund request

Thank you,

HM Revenue & Customs

Would you have known that this was a scam? 

The email is appealing as it is offering you a refund, but look carefully again and see if you can spot the warning signs.  There are usually spelling mistakes and poor grammar in scam emails, and there is always a “LINK”, or blue web address or words in blue and underlined which the email asks you to click.  HM Revenue would not email, nor would Microsoft or your Bank, so ignore any emails from them, even if they look official.

Never click on links in suspicious emails, even if you know the sender.  If the sender doesn’t usually email you, or you have any doubts, give them a call to check first.  Clicking on an unsafe link can download malware, or nasty viruses onto your system.

You can be a victim of this on Facebook too, so if there is a post from a friend saying, please check out my private video, or tagging you in a post saying you were there, and you weren’t, it is more than likely a scam.  Don’t click or you will be infected and infect all your friends.

So what should you do if you think you might have clicked on something that you shouldn’t? 

This free software is extremely good for Windows users.  It is also free.  https://www.malwarebytes.org/  It’s not a bad idea to run it once in a while to see what it picks up. 

If your email has been hacked or you suspect someone else’s has, act immediately.  If you have received an email from a friend with a strange link in it, and no subject, do tell them right away.

I had this from a client recently:

Subject:  Re:bss18 f

http://www.creativeinfotech.info/er/jgabpxybgkaibtr.rpiwzorevcjvnhcmaozty

huish773

1/19/2015 6:30:50 PM

The client did not know she had been hacked.  Her friends didn’t know that they shouldn’t click on the link.  It was an advert for slimming.  I advised her not to click and to change her email password.  Make sure you know what yours is, and when you change it, make a note somewhere.  If you use email on computer and a phone, or tablet, you will need to reset the password in all of them.

Finally, do ensure you have a good antivirus on your computer and that you back up all your files regularly.

Stay safe online with Mrs PC.