A mother has warned others after she was nearly scammed by a man claiming to be a parent at her son's school to arrange a Christmas party.
Kasi Reid, from Coventry, said she almost fell victim to the scam when she received a voice call from the man on WhatsApp. Following the call, he then sent her a code to join a group to plan a Christmas party but she realized that it would have transferred data between the two phones.
"He would have had access to absolutely everything on my WhatsApp which was very scary," Ms Reid told the BBC. "I do everything through WhatsApp. All of my son's stuff is on there, lots of conversations with my mum... Everything is on [there]."
Ms Reid believed it was calculated scam as he called her when he knew she would be on a school run saying that he was 'dependent' on her being 'distracted' and 'rushed'. She hung up the phone on him when she started to become suspicious and figured out all her personal information could have been given to him.
Consumer rights expert Martyn James said such scams were increasingly common and could have devastating consequences. He said all a scammer needs is an email address and a password. "[They] will try to enter that into every bank account, every shop, every money service like PayPal," he told the BBC. "As soon as one door opens, [they] can then commit fraud."
How you can protect your data online
Criminals send out millions of so-called 'phishing' emails and text messages in the hope their targets will simply click or open a link. Once you open the link, you may be directed to a dodgy website which could download viruses onto your computer, steal your passwords and personal information.
So how can you stay safe online?
- If you receive a suspicious email, don't open links or documents, or reply with your details. Instead, delete it straight away.
- If the email claims to be from an organization, find the telephone number on its official website and call this to ask.
- Always check email addresses and website addresses. The ones used by scammers will be slightly different from official addresses.
- Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software to protect your computer and data, plus strong passwords.
- Avoid passwords that include common words or numbers like 'password', 'welcome', 'qwerty', or '123'. Don't use personal information such as your name or date of birth.
- To avoid fake websites, look for your bank's official web address on paperwork.
- Always use gov.uk for government services.