community, your-news, SaferInternetDay, scams
Children are often the focus of online safety campaigns, but this Safer Internet Day Tamworth seniors are being warned to look out for scams targeting them. Trish Balcombe, a volunteer with Tamworth and District Seniors Computer Club, said young people are much more savvy online. She told the Northern Daily Leader seniors are particularly vulnerable to scammers who ring up posing as large corporations, such as NBN or Microsoft, asking for their details. “Don’t open websites or links unless they have a padlock or at least https in front of them,” Ms Balcombe said “Don’t open any mail, text unless you know where it is from, just delete or block.” Safer Internet Day, marked this year on February 8, is coordinated by the national eSafety Commissioner and aims to make the internet a safer place for all. There’s always new ways people try to steal information online, said Jo Alger, chief operating officer of Tamworth’s Cloudwize, a cyber security consultancy. She said some nefarious organisations run sophisticated phishing campaigns – in which messages or emails encourage people to hand over personal information. These not only have technical staff on their team, but psychologists. “As always, if it looks too good to be true, then it’s usually a scam,” Ms Alger said. Adults aged 65 and over were much more likely to report financial losses from swindles than younger people, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)…
