Joint effort to tackle cybercrime
WITH BLACK Friday upon us, keeping vigilant this festive period is crucial to avoiding fraudsters and cybercrime in the island.
The message comes jointly from HSBC and Guernsey Police, who have partnered with UK-based charity Get Safe Online to raise awareness of the risks of online fraud in the run-up to Christmas.
It is the busiest time of year for online shopping and therefore the busiest for fraudsters too.
Guernsey Police digital media and cyber crime investigator, Matthew France, said: ‘There is something like 6.5 billion email accounts that have data breaches globally and fraud is becoming increasingly common.
‘In the lead-up to Christmas, and with Black Friday upon us, we thought no better time to do a big push and raise as much awareness as possible among the public to the potential risks and dangers of shopping online.
‘More and more of us are choosing to shop online and we want to make sure people are not losing their hard-earned money to fraudsters and scams.
‘So that is why we have partnered up with HSBC and Get Safe Online to promote this.’
For those who have experienced a scam themselves or have noticed a potential threat online, the police ask that Law Enforcement and Trading Standards are contacted respectively.
Cyber is a relatively new form of crime and statistical pictures are still being drawn, which is why Trading Standards record all potential threats.
HSBC’s Pete Turner said: ‘With Black Friday today, we wanted to give the public the awareness of the risk they face online and what they can do to combat it.
‘I would urge anyone if they are in doubt to please pick up the phone and we will do all we can to provide assistance.’
Recommended ways to keep safe online include keeping all software updated, ensuring anti-virus software is operational and avoiding link clicking in unexpected circumstances.
. For more information visit ciiom.hsbc.com/help/security-centre.
