Scams & Cybercrime

Cybercrime is one of the fastest-growing criminal activities of recent years. We are all potential targets if we use the internet or a mobile phone, and most of us will experience scams or cybercrime at some point in our lives.  Cybercrime can take many forms:

• Cyber-bullying
• Trolling someone online
• Sending abusive texts or emails
• Harrassing someone online
• Posting embarrassing pictures or videos online without consent
• Intimidation
• Stalking
• Child exploitation and grooming
• Downloading pornographic material from the internet
• Identity fraud or Identity theft
• Financial scams
• Fraud or deception over the internet
• Virus attacks
• Setting up a false profile to target an individual or group

Victim impact

You may feel attacked and powerless to defend yourself even if you are computer literate. Some people can feel embarrassed about this kind of crime because they have been tricked into believing an offer was genuine or think they could have done more to protect themselves.  If you have lost money in a scam or through fraud, and would like some money or benefits advice in respect of your experience, you can contact the Advice NI freephone helpline on 0800 915 4604 or email advice@adviceni.net

Teenagers and children can be particularly sensitive to internet bullying, trolling, or grooming.  Many children don’t feel they have anyone to talk to about this type of crime.  Open the conversation with your children, and make sure they know they can come to you if they feel bullied online in any way.  Childline offer a free helpline which children and young people can use if they want to speak to someone in confidence about any issue – it’s available 24/7 on 0800 1111.
The National Bullying Helpline is also available Mon-Fri 9-5 on 0300 323 0169

Some Tips to help you avoid Scams:

Scams and cybercrime are becoming more and more sophisticated, and even if you feel you’re internet savvy, you can still be taken in by criminal schemes.  AI is making it even more difficult to detect scams.  You should never feel embarrassed if you fall victim to a scam.  It’s not your fault – it’s the fault of the criminals behind the scams.  With this being said, there are certain things you can do to protect yourself from scams.  These include:
Don’t give out personal details, and think carefully before posting pictures or video of you or your friends.
Protect your passwords and use different passwords for different sites.  Password managers can help you with this.
Use two-factor authentication where possible.
Set your privacy settings to high on social media.
Learn how to block instant messages or use filters to block emails, and don’t open emails from strange email addresses.
Monitor your children’s online usage, and set parental controls on devices.
Make sure you’re using a secure site when making any internet purchases.
Make sure you have at least a basic firewall and virus scanner to protect your computer from virus attacks.

If you fall victim to Cybercrime:

There are a number of things you can do, depending on the type of crime that’s been committed.  First, do not delete any incriminating emails, texts, or messages.  These are evidence.  By using your ‘print screen’ button on your computer, or taking screenshots on your phone, you can create hard copies of digital evidence.

Talk to someone you trust, and report the bullying or crime to the Internet Service Provider if it’s happened online.  You can let your mobile phone provider know if the abuse is coming via texts or to your phone number.
Block instant messages and emails.

If the crime is financial in nature, call your bank or building society to report the crime.

Report theft, or serious emotional or physical abuse or threats, to the police.  They have a specialist Cybercrime department that can help and they will take you seriously.

Scams and online fraud can be reported to Action Fraud online here or by phoning 0300 123 2040 (8-8 Mon-Fri)

Suspicious emails can be sent to report@phishing.gov.uk
Suspicious texts should be sent to 7726.  Your provider will then investigate the origin of the text and can block or ban the sender.

How we can help

However you are feeling or whenever the cyber crimes took place, you can talk to someone from Victim Support in complete confidence.

We can help, whether or not you have reported the incident to police. Most people want to talk to someone about what has happened and how they are feeling. Friends and family can be very helpful, but our volunteers are specially trained to listen and understand. We can also give useful information to help you deal with some of the problems the crime has caused.

Scamwise NI helps to notify the public about current scams and promotes scam awareness.  You can follow them on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/scamwiseni or check out their page at nidirect.  They have released helpful booklets on the prevention of cybercrime and phone scams.  You can download and read them here:
The Little Book of Cyber Scams Little Book of Cyber Scams PSNI_LBOCS_2.0_Online
The Little Booklet of Phone Scams Little Booklet of Phone Scams_Online

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