As covered throughout the the various Tech News Thursday articles regarding fraudulent scams that have occurred within the technology and legal industries (see (42) Will Law Firms be at risk of becoming Victims to Hackers? | LinkedIn ; (42) Data Breaches and Vulnerabilities within an Organisation | LinkedIn ; and (42) The Dangers of the Northern Ireland Police Force Data Breach | LinkedIn ), one ought to make it apparent that scams are evidently more transparent during the festive season.
It is certainly plausible that more households will be feeling the burden of the current financial crisis than previous years; however, the Christmas holidays tend to be that time of the year when individuals are arguably more charitable when it comes to gift giving and/or creating precious moments with family and friends.
It is not recent news that scams occur more frequently throughout the holiday season. Yet, with the advancement of technology (especially AI and Deepfake technologies), one will most certainly begin to see innovative ways in which scammers will approach and execute their devious plans.
But, with the advancement of technology, how exactly are these scammers targeting people?
It was discussed in Fraud expert warns of common scams cybercriminals use at Christmas – Chronicle Live by Neil Shaw and Aaron Morris that approximately 1.9 million Brits fell victim to a Christmas scam in 2021. Since then, not only has technology developed greatly, but scammers have indeed become increasingly sophisticated in their approaches to targeting their victims.
As displayed above, a common example of a way in which scammers will target their victims is often or not through a text message, where the scammer essentially poses as an organisation (tends to be a post office or a courier) claiming that you have not paid a specific charge on a recent online purchase. In light of the article ‘Delivery text scams and how to deal with them – BBC News’ it is best to ensure that you take extra precautions, report them, and contact your bank in order to stay safe online.
Do you think the government ought to have stricter statutes set in place in regards to scams?
What do you think the government and courts should do to prevent scams in the future?
See also:
How to protect yourself from Christmas fraud | This Morning (itv.com)