A government task force met on Thursday to discuss ways that we can deal with the huge rise in scams that has hit the UK since the start of the COVID – 19 pandemic

 

Groups representing several industries including banks and telecommunications will meet with Damien Hinds, the Minister for Security, to discuss how we can increase public awareness about online fraud and ways to possibly tackle it.

 

UK telecoms regulator research showed almost 45 million people received at least one scam text or call in the last three months, mobile network EE also had to block 18,000 sim cards that were used for fraud over the quarter.

 

One of the methods of tackling these scams has already been implemented by TalkTalk and is expected to be adopted by other major phone networks soon. The method is to automatically block internet phone calls pretending to be from the UK as a lot of these scam calls use UK phone numbers but are originating internationally. Though this won’t stop all scam calls we believe it’s a step in the right direction and a change we can all appreciate as research by Ofcom found 82% of adults had received a suspicious message during the summer, with most reporting that it had come via a text.

 

Landline calls continued to be a threat for older people, with 61% of over-75s saying they had received a potential scam call.

 

Scams like these and phishing emails have seen a massive rise since the start of the pandemic, with cyber fraudsters abusing the changes in how we go about our daily life and capitalizing on our new habits.

 

The National Cyber Security Centre has a number that you can forward any scam text messages to, 7726, they also say if you have received a scam call you should report it to Action Fraud. NCSC also has an email reporting service that you can forward any phishing emails to called SERS (Suspicious Email Reporting Service) at report@phishing.gov.uk.

 

You can click on the hyperlinks to learn more about any of the mentioned resources or contact Cyber Wise and find out how we can help your business with simulated attacks and courses for your team.