Tag Archives: Cybercrime

Cyber Security, Cybercrime, Police

City of London Police teach all key stage two children across the UK about fraud and cyber crime

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  • Police launch a Cyber Detectives programme to all schools across the UK funded by Lloyds Banking Group
  • All key stage two children will be taught about policing principles, fraud and cybercrime prevention
  • Lessons will involve learning about fraud and cybercrime.

The City of London Police is pleased to announce its Mini Police programme will now be available to all key stage two pupils across the UK. The programme was originally piloted in 2018 at The Aldgate School in the City of London,

The partnership is between the City of London Police, Lloyds Banking Group who funded and co-developed the programme, and the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association (PHSE) who will distribute the lessons to schools through a website link.  The programme aims to raise awareness of online fraud and its associated risks, and explore the skills pupils need to stay safe online and protect their personal information, as well as how to report concerns and access help.

The resource pack includes two comprehensive lesson plans for Year 5/6 pupils, with supporting PowerPoints, accompanied by teacher guidance, explaining how to ensure the most effective delivery of the lessons. The pack also contains information and guidance for parents, to help them stay informed about how online fraud could affect their child, along with practical tips and advice on how to keep safe.

The lessons will support pupils to:

  • Explain what online fraud is and identify and analyse some examples of scams;
  • Describe the importance of protecting personal information and data online;
  • Explain why age restrictions for online games can help to keep people safe and prevent fraud; and.
  • Recognise ways to stay as safe as possible online and how to report concerns about online fraud;

The children will also learn what it means to be a police officer and the importance of working with the public to protect them from crime.

Cyber Detectives - Image Credit, City of London Police
Cyber Detectives – Image Credit, City of London Police

Temporary Commander, Clinton Blackburn of the City of London Police, Policing Lead Force for Fraud said:

“The Cyber Detectives project is an excellent opportunity for us to work with schools and teach children to protect themselves from cybercriminals.

“We have designed the programme so that the children receive age-appropriate messages that allow them to learn about policing and cybercrime in a stimulating environment.

“This programme highlights how important and effective partnership working is and we are looking forward to hearing the feedback from pupils, teachers and parents. With more children being online from a young age, the importance of learning about cybercrime and fraud has risen. The programme also makes children think about all aspects of online safety and how they can protect themselves and others.”

Brian Dilley, Fraud and Financial Crime Prevention Director, Lloyds Banking Group, said:

“Helping to keep our customers’ money safe by stopping fraud from happening in the first place is very important to us

“Joining forces with CoLP and PHSE to roll-out the Mini Police primary school programme across the country’s schools will help educate the next generation about financial fraud and build greater awareness among teachers, families and communities – the more people know about spotting the signs of scams, the safer we will all be.”

PSHE Association Subject Specialist, Lydia Stober says:

“The rise of online gaming and social media use means that fraud prevention education has never been more important, particularly for primary aged pupils who are exploring the online world at an early age. These PSHE education lessons from the City of London Police and Lloyds Banking Group will help pupils to recognise the signs of fraudulent activity online in a variety of different contexts including emails, websites and gaming. Pupils are also given the opportunity to discuss the potential risks to themselves and ways to reduce it, and understand the importance of age ratings in keeping them safe and avoiding online fraud.”

Blog Post, Security

Three Ways To Spot A Phishing Email

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Phishing is one of the most common methods of cybercrime, but despite the fact that we all know about scam emails, people often still fall victim to these scams.  Thousands of phishing emails are sent every year and a vast amount of data breaches come from scam emails. Phishing has been used for all kinds of scams, from gaining access to your bank accounts to coronavirus scams that ask you to pay for tests. There are some ways that you can spot a phishing email, so you can avoid having your information stolen or being scammed out of your money. 

One: The Message Is Sent From A Public Email

No genuine organisation will send emails from an address that ends with ‘@gmail.com’, or another free email service, not even then companies that own these email services. 

Only very small operations won’t have their own email domain and all organisations will have company accounts. If the domain name matches the sender of the email, this is a good sign that the email is genuine. If you get an email from your bank from a Gmail address, that’s definitely a fake. 

The simplest way to check what the domain name of an organisation should be is to search for the company on Google. 

Look at the email address, not just the sender. Your inbox will display a name, like the name of your bank, along with the subject line. When you open the email, you will think you know who the message is from, and can often skip checking the email address to just read the content. 

When a scammer creates a fake email address, they often have the choice to choose the display name, which doesn’t have to relate to the email address at all. This means that a scammer can use a bogus email address that show up in your inbox with a convincing display name.  Unfortunately, sometimes this is enough to trick people. 

Two: The Domain Name Is Misspelt

Scammers are wise to the problem of domain names, and there are clever ways to get around not being able to send emails from the correct domain.

Anyone can buy a domain name. While every domain name must be unique, scammers can buy one that is remarkably similar to the genuine article. Perhaps they add a dash or change a letter that is hard to spot at first glance on a small screen (swapping an m for an n is a classic example). 

If an email seems strange, pay close attention to the domain name. If it isn’t spelt correctly, then it’s a scam.

Three: The Email Is Poorly Written

You can often tell that an email is a scam if it uses poor spelling and grammar. Phishing emails are automated and sent out to vast numbers of people. When these emails are crafted, scammers often use a spellchecker or a translation program. This gives them the right words but always used in the correct context. 

These are errors are often the kinds of mistakes that are common with people learning English. Any message claiming to be official that is written like this is almost definitely a scam. 

An email with a mistake is not always going to be a scam. We all make typos occasionally, especially when typing quickly. It’s up to you look at the context of the mistake and decide if it suggests a scam email or just a mistake made by someone in a hurry. Ask yourself:

  • Is this a common typo, like striking an adjacent key?
  • Is it a mistake a native speaker wouldn’t make, like words in the wrong context, or grammatical incoherence?
  • Is the email consistent with previous messages you’ve received from the sender? 

If you’re not sure if an email is genuine, even after looking at these clues, you should contact the sender, via another method of communication. You could check on their website, call them, speak in person, use an instant message option, or use an alternative email address. They can either confirm that the email is genuine, or you can make them aware of the scam, so they can take action and prevent other customers from being scammed too. 

It’s important for individuals to learn to spot a scam email. Spam filters can only do so much to catch attempts at phishing, and it takes a human to look for signs of something suspicious in the context of an email. Learn the signs, and be aware of what you’re opening or clicking.