How to protect yourself from online scams

As the digital revolution continues to surge, knowing how to protect yourself from online scams is becoming more critical. We recently had cases where scammers used Flatio to try and take money from potential customers. That's why we wanted to put together a quick post highlighting the steps you can take to protect yourself from online scams. Some of the information here might sound obvious to some of you.

However, we wanted to make things as clear and easy as possible. After all, nobody plans to be scammed, and it can happen to anyone – especially as the techniques and technologies used continue to get smarter and harder to detect. It's also worth noting that fraudsters aren't stupid. They'll often use emotive language to make you feel safe or feat to make you feel threatened.

These people usually are repeat offenders and have been honing their skills for a long time, making it hard to spot patterns. If something sounds too good to be true (a free holiday, money or heavy discounts), it usually is. So here are our tips on how you can protect yourself from online scams.

1) Be aware – make sure you are vigilant to scams circulating online or in your local area. But also treat every contact you have with a person you don't know with caution. Scammers will call, turn up at your home or email you. If something looks or sounds vague or untrue, there's usually a reason.

2) Always ask for verification – if someone calls claiming to be from your bank, tell them you'll call them back once you've verified that they are real. If they say that's not possible, it's likely to be a scam. Any legitimate business will allow you to check they're legitimate to make you feel safe.

3) Never open suspicious texts or click on strange emails – technology is getting more sophisticated, which means scammers are using new techniques to exploit people. Some scams allow people to access your phone or devices simply by clicking on pop- up, text or email. If something looks fishy, do a Google search and delete it if you don't feel comfortable that it's real.

4) Don't transfer money directly – very few businesses (if any) ask for direct bank transfers, especially to personal bank accounts. Never send deposits, booking fees or anything else unless you have verified with the company you are dealing with directly by check their policies on the website or speaking with an employee.

5) Be careful not to share too much information – we live in a world where everybody knows everything. We share our locations on Instagram, our pictures on Facebook and even our successes and failures on YouTube. Fraudsters will mine this information to use against you, so always be wary about oversharing. Keep things like bank details, national insurance numbers and other personal information to yourself.

6) Find out if your information has been compromised. There are websites out there where you can check if your data has been breached free by searching your email address, for example. One site you can use is haveibeenpwned.com .

7) Change passwords regularly – unique passwords that aren't easy to guess are always best. However, it's also vital that you change your passwords regularly. Outlook, for example, has a reminder that prompts you to change your login details every 72 days. Always use password protection to keep you further safe.

8) Do your research – if you're approached by a new company or somebody you don't know, search their email or phone number in Google. Check they are from the company they say they're from by contacting support or calling directly via the website. Spend time reading T&Cs to make sure they're the real deal. And if something looks fishy, there's no harm in reporting it.