Steps you can take to protect your personal information online:
1. Identifying and managing spam
Spam refers to unsolicited junk emails that are often sent to large numbers of people at once. Spam emails are typically advertising fake products or money making schemes.
Unsubscribing from spam emails may not be the answer as this may confirm to spammers that your email address works and that they should keep spamming you.
The most effective way of managing spam emails is to use the setting in your email platform to send these emails to your junk folder.
What is phishing?
Phishing (pronounced fishing) emails are more sinister than spam. Phishing emails are designed to trick you into providing personal information such as:
- a mobile phone number
- usernames and passwords
- credit card details or bank details.
You are in control with phishing emails
Criminals use emails as a cheap way to get to a lot of people.
The phishing email you receive was probably sent to several thousand other people as well. You have the opportunity to outsmart these criminals by taking some time to look for the signs that something is not right.
Phishing emails often pretend to be from legitimate companies such as banks, courier companies, or government departments, and can contain links to fake websites.
These fake sites look very similar to the real ones and are designed to trick people into entering their personal information.
Sometimes the emails will have an attachment that appears to be an invoice, or document. When you try to open the attachment, it installs malware on to your computer without your knowledge.
Ways to identify phishing emails
Sender address
This might be unusual, misspelled or slightly different from the correct address, for example homesafe.com instead of homesafe.com.au.
Generic greetings and sign offs
Phishing emails are sent out to hundreds of people at once so the sender may use generic greetings and sign-offs and may not use a name.
Poor grammar and spelling
This can be a tell-tale sign, but it isn’t always the case. Remember, criminals can use spell check too.
Creating a sense of urgency
Phishing emails will often encourage you to click a link or download an attachment to avoid a problem to create a sense of urgency. Always read an email carefully before taking any action.
Suspicious links and fake websites
If you receive an email with a suspicious link, hover over the link with your mouse to see the actual web address the link leads to – it could lead to a fake website.
Malicious attachment
Often an attachment will appear to be a PDF, image or Office file, but when you try to open the document, it tries to run a program or script intended to infect your computer with malicious software.
SMS Phishing
Cyber criminals are using other channels like SMS to conduct phishing. These fraudulent text messages use the same tactics as phishing emails, often pretending to come from a legitimate company.
Because text messages seem more personal, these messages are often not questioned in the same way as suspicious emails. Criminals are able to set the sender name of an SMS to anything they like. It’s the same as when you send a letter in the post; you can write whatever sender address you like on the back – it doesn’t have to be your real name or address. Sometimes criminals set the sender name as the company they are pretending to be, meaning that malicious SMS messages can appear as legitimate SMS messages.
Homesafe will never “suspend your account”, or send you a link to “verify your identity”. These messages are not a sign that Homesafe systems have been breached in any way– it simply means a criminal is impersonating our company.
Always stop and think before clicking on a link in an SMS.
What to do if you get 'phished'
If you suspect an email or text message, don't respond to requests for information and don’t click on any links or open attachments, even if there’s a sense of urgency.
- If you receive a suspicious email pretending to be from us, report it immediately to info@homesafe.com.au
- If you receive a suspicious sms pretending to be from us, please follow the steps below.
2. What to do if you receive a suspicious text message
If you receive a suspicious text message which is purporting to be from Homesafe, please follow these steps:
iPhone Users
- Tap and hold your finger on the message until the option Copy/More appears.
- Select More then tap the Share/Forward arrow in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Type '0447 484 496' as the recipient, and press Send.
- Delete the original and forwarded versions of the message.
Android Users
- Tap and hold your finger on the message until a menu appears.
- Select Forward, type '0447 484 496' as the recipient, and press Send.
- Delete the original and forwarded versions of the message.
3. Visit the Australian Cyber Security Centre website for detailed information and guides to protect your data online – https://www.cyber.gov.au/
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Please note
This information seeks to raise awareness and provides general information only. It may be necessary or appropriate to ensure that measures are taken in addition to, or in substitution for, the measures presented having regard to your particular personal circumstances.
