Scam texts and emails

Scammers like to write in the name of someone we trust: a bank, a delivery company, the post office, a government office or a mobile provider. They want you to click a link and type your card details or online banking login into a fake website.

This trick is called phishing – like fishing. The scammer casts the bait and waits to see who bites.

Fake websites often look exactly like the real ones, with the same logo, colours and fonts. So it is not worth relying on how a page looks. It is far more reliable to notice what the message wants from you.

How to recognise a scam message

1. Hurry and fear. ‘Within 24 hours’, ‘your account will be blocked’, ‘your parcel will be returned’. The scammer does not want you to have time to think.
2. A link in the message. The address often only resembles a real company’s, with extra words like verify or delivery, or an unusual ending.
3. A request for details or a small payment. Card number, PIN, password, a code from a text message – or a ‘redelivery fee’ of a euro or two.
4. A generic greeting and mistakes. ‘Dear customer’ instead of your name, odd spelling, clumsy sentences.
5. A message out of the blue. You did not order anything or expect anything – and yet ‘something’ is about to go wrong.

One of these signs is enough to make you pause. If you see several, it is almost certainly a scam.