Stay Safe Online

DON’T MISS THE dot.uk DEADLINE!

If you already own a dot.co.uk domain name, you are entitled to register the shorter dot.uk version which is reserved for you until 25^th June, 2019 – but, after that date, any rights you have will expire.  On 1^st July, 2019 anyone can register any dot.uk domain that has not already been taken – be it a competitor – a namesake – or an investor.  Rainford-IT are part of Strawberry Fields – Nominet Channel partners – contact us to register your dot.uk domain before 25^th June.

Another deadline:  Support for Windows 7 will run out in January – after 14^th January, 2020 technical assistance and software updates will no longer be available and your computer will become vulnerable to security risks and viruses.  Microsoft recommend getting a new PC – but it is easy to update most computers to Windows 10 at an affordable cost – contact us for more information.

Find details of the latest scams on www.actionfraud.police.uk 

42% of used hard drives sold through eBay still contain sensitive data – according to new research – 15% were found to contain personally identifiable information.  Selling old hardware via an online marketplace might seem a good option, but it creates a serious risk of exposing dangerous levels of personal data.  It’s critical to securely erase any data on drives before passing them onto another party, using the appropriate methods to confirm that it’s well and truly gone.

Fraudsters targeting online gamers:  Action Fraud has seen reports, made mainly by parents on behalf of their children, of fraudsters who are taking advantage of Fortnite gamers who have seen an advert on a social media channel which claims that by following a web link and entering some information, they will receive free Vbucks (currency for the game).

Steampowered.com have received increasing reports of scammers contacting victims over the phone and coercing them to purchase Steam Wallet Gift Cards to cover payment for taxes, bail, debts, or delivery of money won in sweepstakes- often posing as agents of official agencies.  Victims are urged to purchase Steam Wallet Gift Cards at a retail shop in their area. Once the codes have been purchased and activated through the retailer, scammers ask the victims to scratch the codes and read them over the phone.  Steam Wallet Gift Cards can only be activated on Steam. The associated value can only be used to purchase products such as video games, in-game items, software, and hardware.

Rainford-IT are part of Strawberry Fields – Nominet Channel partners and Cisco network partners.  We register and renew domain names. We manage our own servers, email, IT and website hosting.  We can fix most hardware – including I-phones and I-pads.  We design and program e-commerce websites – or simple websites, we create videos, take professional photos, make bespoke music, write blogs, and create WordPress websites you can update yourself.  It’s a family business and we provide a personal service.

Any questions?  Ring us – advice is free.

www.rainford-it.co.uk           01948 840102

Stay Safe Online

We’ve had a few reports recently of phone calls from people pretending to be from BT – and you may well have contacted BT recently about something so automatically think they are real – until they start asking for personal information. If in doubt, take their name and phone number – check the phone number online – and ring back from a different phone (sometimes they stay on the line).

This scam email really had me worried – but I did immediately note that the address the email came from: [email protected] is nothing to do with www.gov.uk. So I searched for the phone number 0300 200 3700 on Google – and it did indeed link to www.gov.uk– BUT when I searched for the reference number I found this website::

https://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/fake-hmrc-submission-email-delivers-some-sort-of-malware/

which said:

“All the alleged senders, amounts, reference numbers, Bank codes, companies, … email addresses and phone numbers mentioned in the emails are all random. Some of these companies will exist and some won’t. Don’t try to respond by phone or email, all you will do is end up with an innocent person or company who have had their details spoofed and picked at random from a long list that the bad guys have previously found. The bad guys choose companies, Government departments and organisations with subjects that are designed to entice you or alarm you into blindly opening the attachment or clicking the link in the email to see what is happening.”

Whatever you do – don’t open the attachment! And never click on any links in emails unless you are absolutely sure they are legitimate.

If you do have a problem – or are worried at all – turn off the computer and ring us – advice is free!

Rainford-IT are part of Strawberry Fields – Nominet Channel partners and Cisco network partners. We register and renew domain names. We manage our own servers, email, IT and website hosting. We can fix most hardware – including I-phones and I-pad – and recover data. We design and program e-commerce websites – or simple websites, we create videos, take professional photos, make bespoke music, write blogs, and create WordPress websites you can update yourself. It’s a family business and we provide a personal service.