Community Tech Hub Weekly Newsletter; 4th September

Community Tech Hub Weekly Newsletter; 4th September           

Good Afternoon

We are starting a weekly Tech Hub Scam Awareness Newsletter for our members. If you have any questions or concerns about anything that is covered here, please make contact with support@communitytechhub.org

In this newsletter;

1)         Our next Briefing Session – 27th September 3-5pm

2)         Pension Scam (Which?)

3)         Courier Fraud (HSBC)

4)         O2 Fraud Prevention Plans (O2)

5)         What to Look Out For

6)         Stop & Think

We are busily building a website where a lot of this detail will be referred there, but until it is ready I hope you find the read interesting.

Grundisburgh Tech Hub Briefing Session – 27th September

Are you worried about ID Fraud and if it happens; how do you recover & protect yourself? What if you are being courted by someone you cant see or don’t know?

Come along to our next Community Tech Hub briefing session on 27th September where we have a guest speaker from London who has had direct experience of ID fraud. Chris Haden is an IT professional and board director who had a sizeable amount of his pension stolen and found 20+ bank accounts opened up in his name.  Come along and listen to his personal story and how he recovered the situation. There are many morals to this story.  

We are also very fortunate to have a second speaker from London who is a champion of Friends Against Scams – Pat Keane. Community Tech Hub is a partner of Friends Against Scams; Pat will share with us how romance scams work and what to be aware of – particularly if you are feeling vulnerable or isolated.

This event is free to members, non-members £15/each (pay on the door, booking in advance mandatory. If you join before or on the day – this event will be included. Feel free to bring a guest same terms apply.

To Book: events@communitytechhub.org

Millions are targeted by pension scammers

An extract from a report published on Which? 30/8/24

Pension rule changes over the course of the last decade have provided more opportunities for fraudsters looking to steal your retirement savings. Criminals are attempting to take advantage of the greater flexibility. According to LV=, approximately one in seven – or 7.3 million – UK adults have been the subject of an attempted pension scam in the past 12 months. These people were encouraged via unsolicited calls, texts and emails to transfer or release money from their pension.

For the full article : Click Here

Courier Fraud Alert (HSBC note to their customers)

There has been a recent surge in courier fraud. Scammers are pretending to be legitimate courier services and targeting HSBC customers. They aim to gain your trust, before asking you to do something unusual - like withdraw large amounts of cash or agree to have a courier sent to your home to pick up your debit or credit card. In reality, they're either trying to steal your money, or access your personal and financial information to defraud you.

So, here's what to do

Carry out a detailed check of the email address or phone number people use to contact you. If it doesn't match what's in the public record or online, ignore it.

Be wary of unexpected requests asking for personal information or 'urgent' action.

Remember, your bank doesn't behave like this. Your bank would never use a courier to collect a bank card or PIN, any personal information, or information relating to your bank accounts.

O2 Fraud Prevention Plans

From September, O2 are launching a new service to help you avoid nuisance calls. “Brand ID” will help let you know if you're getting a call from a legitimate business. And later this year, Call Defence will tell you if we suspect you're getting a scam or spam call. For more info or to opt out, visit https://v.o2.co.uk/Q9R5Q9p5

For more ways to keep you and your loved ones safe from fraud - and how we're helping, see https://v.o2.co.uk/w3P8y2S0

What to look out for

• Scammers may ask you to disclose your PIN over the phone – your bank will never ask for your PIN in full like that.

• Scammers may say they want to pick up your card urgently as they have identified fraudulent activity, or for reasons such as 'your security'.

• A recent version of the courier scam involves scammers calling you, stating a 'member of staff at your bank' has been engaged in criminal activity, and your help is required to identify them. Again, this is not something a bank would ask a customer to do.

• Scammers may pose as Police Officers or Fraud Investigators and ask you to withdraw a considerable sum of money to help with an investigation. They may promise to return this to you once the investigation is complete. But when you hand over any sum of money too quickly or before you've thought about it, they simply steal it

·       Another common scam involves 'your bank' telling you scammers have taken over your account and you need to move your funds to a 'safe account'. If your account has been compromised, HSBC will issue you with new account details. There will be no requirement for you to transfer funds to a 'safe account.'

Stop and Think

If someone contacts you or asks you to use a courier service - even the Royal Mail - to send cards, personal information, or information relating to your bank accounts, hang up at once. Police Officers and banks will never ask you to do this.