Expert reveals how to avoid online scammers and stop falling for their tricks

It feels like internet scams have become more prevalent than ever. We are in a scam-demic!

Jono and Ben caught up with scam and cyber security expert Stephen Kho from Avast to figure out how we can spot a scam and hopefully not fall for them.

"We're all experiencing a lot of scams, meaning we are receiving scams throughout SMS messages, emails, and all social media as well," Stephen explained.

Stephen explained that scams can take on all sorts of forms, from tax scams to romance scams and even targeted phishing scams, which is where the scammer pretends to be someone you know.

Even Jono and Ben have experienced scammers set up fake accounts pretending to be them to try and trick others.

“We call that phishing or spear phishing,” Stephan said. “So it's very targeted that they tailor it to you.

"We know out of research, most people, nearly half admitted that if a message is addressed personally, they're more likely to act on it and believe in it."

"So definitely [it’s] very tricky and very seasonal," Stephan continued. "Scammers follow the money and they go with what's happening kind of around the world.

"So if there's a disaster or there's Valentine's Day or there's tax time, they do the theme and, and blend it in so that it invokes your emotion. Basically, they try to get you in by creating fear and urgency.”

Another big scam that people need to look out for is TXT scammers, Stephan added.

"Scams these days, a lot of them come through our SMS and they're so cheap [for the scammers] to send.

“If they send several million and they get a couple of percent hit rate, so, and that's a success. In fact, in just the, from January to March this year New Zealand, over 3.7 million who are already lost.”

It can seem scary, but if everyone slows down and takes a moment to think if something could be a scam or not, then we will all be a lot safer online.

Listen to Stephan Kho’s full interview with Jono and Ben above to hear his other tips for avoiding scammers.