If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is; If you have not entered a competition, you cannot win it – these and many other useful tips have been offered by the Consumer Council of Northern Ireland as part of the new efforts to protect consumers from scammers, particularly young students.
Together with the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), the Consumer Council has launched a new interactive resource just in time for the new academic year to help students spot risky situations and act with prudence.
The new Scamwise learning resources – available at
www.ccea.org.uk/scamwise – provide detailed information about the different types of scams, both offline and online, and also explain how identity theft can happen. Students will learn how to recognise scams and get tips and advice on how they can avoid a variety of unsafe interactions.
The Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 resources have been jointly produced by CCEA and the Consumer Council on behalf of the ScamwiseNI Partnership, which was launched in 2016 and now unites over 30 organisations committed to informing local communities about the risks of scams and the range of schemes that exist.
Andrew McAfee, Business Manager at CCEA, hailed the creation of Scamwise learning resources: “These activities aim to help pupils learn about the different types of scams including phishing, vishing and smishing. Resources are included for sharing good practice with family, friends and neighbours, so that everyone in the community can feel protected from scams.”
These resources embed e-safety education into teaching and learning in Personal Development and Mutual Understanding, a key Area of Learning in the Northern Ireland Curriculum at the Foundation Stage. Additionally, these resources allow learning across other areas of the curriculum, including The Arts, Language and Literacy, and Physical Education.
Superintendent Gerard Pollock of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and Chair of the ScamwiseNI Partnership has welcomed the initiative. “Unfortunately, there has been an increase in the number of scams reported over recent months and they are becoming increasingly sophisticated so the earlier we can reach people and provide guidance on the signs to look out for, the better,” he said.
According to the Yonder Data solutions, which surveyed a representative sample of 2,088 UK adults this year, a high proportion of 1,616 respondents (77%) said they had been contacted by someone that they think was trying to scam them, including 5% who said they had been actually scammed.
The Scams Survey 2022, that was commissioned by the Consumer Council of Northern Ireland and conducted by YouGov, has shown that over the past three years, the most common methods to scam consumers were email with 62 percent, followed by text message (58%), telephone call (52%), social media (25%) and WhatsApp message (12%).
“I want young people to know that they should never disclose personal or banking details to anyone over the phone or online, no matter how convincing they may seem,” Superintendent Gerard Pollock underlined.
“They should never allow an unauthorised person to have access to such details and never ever download software based on a phone call.”
Dervla Kearney, Director of Consumer Empowerment at The Consumer Council highlighted that as members of the ScamwiseNI Partnership, they are committed to ensure that their messages reach every potential consumer in Northern Ireland, including future generations of consumers, which are most vulnerable to scamming schemes as they predominantly use mobile phones and online technology.
“Unfortunately, scams are a part of everyday life and many now are very sophisticated and target children and young people through apps, gaming and various platforms,” Dervla Kearney said, expressing hope that the new resource will equip “children and young people with the information and understanding surrounding scams and how to protect themselves, friends and family.”
Superintendent Gerard Pollock of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has advised anyone who thinks they have been the victim of a scam to report it to the police on the non-emergency telephone number 101 or in an emergency dial 999.
The Consumer Council’s Dervla Kearney, on her part, has added some other useful tips, particularly highlighting that scammers often create a sense of urgency about providing personal details from their victims, putting pressure on them to make a fast decision.
She has warned: “You should be suspicious if you have been contacted out of the blue and asked for personal or payment details; Be wary if you are asked to provide personal details to an unknown source via online, phone, text, email, post, or doorstep; Do not feel pressured into responding.”
Other tips from her include to never make payment for goods by bank transfer and always do research before buying from an unknown website, including reading reviews of items and previous customer feedback.
Equally important for consumers is to examine the web address where they are being directed to. “Most shopping websites end with ‘.co.uk’ or ‘.com’; Official UK Government or public body websites end with ‘gov.uk’ and ‘org.uk’; Check if the web address has ‘https’ and a padlock icon in the browser bar. The ‘s’ stands for secure and together with the padlock are an indication the website is safe,” Dervla Kearney explained.
The Consumer Council, where Dervla Kearney leads the Consumer Empowerment department, is an independent consumer organisation, working to protect interests of Northern Ireland’s consumers, including dealing with individual complaints about transport, natural gas, electricity, coal, postal services, and water.