Scammers

Scamming is another major threat surrounding cybersecurity, which must be taken very seriously. Scammers claim that they are from a very recognized business, and send messages in the form of emails offering money. as stated by Herb Weisbaum from NBC News, as many as 500,000 Americans were bured by fake scams in 2017 (Weisbaum 2018). This explains how scammers make an alarmingly high amount of money by pranking users. They can be very convincing and persuasive, as explained by Colleen Tressler, who says scammers always have a good story to explain the overpayment (Tressler 2018). Sometimes, scammers can go to extreme measures by threatening users. These severe threats can range from prison to even death threats. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission states that such scammers can threaten to send the police to your house if you refuse to give them what they want (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 2019). Stay Smart Online shares the story of a scam victim who was threatened by a scammer who claimed she owed $4900 and that if she did not pay an instalment of $500, she would have been arrested (Stay Smart Online 2019).

The Consumer Protection websites discusses some very effective strategies to take, in order to avoid scammers. It describes how users should be suspicious about who is talking to them and to not engage with them if they are in fact scammers (Consumer Protection 2019). This gives strong advice to users about how to be aware of scammers and how to stay without responding to them, if they are being targetted. These tips are useful, when it comes to preventing users from being threatened by scammers. The best measure to take against scamming is to reconsider whether the person messaging is telling the truth, or just luring users into giving them money. If the user is being tricked by a scammer, it is highly recommended that they ignore the message and stay silent, without responding to their messages. There are organizations owned by the government who deal with incidents surrounding scammers, such as the Australian Competition Consumer Commission, that deal with scammers and the threats they make to users (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 2019). By simply thinking twice before responding to messages and staying silent and ignoring a message if it is from a scammer, the number of incidents surrounding this issue, will reduce.