Keep a cool head throughout this summer, too

It is gen­eral knowl­edge that online fraud has been on the increase since the begin­ning of the Corona pan­demic. One tried-and-tested anti­dote fre­quently referred to is “common sense”.

It is always the same kind of ruses: Fraud­ster con­tact you via e-mail, text mes­sage or by phone pre­tending to work for well-known organ­i­sa­tions (for instance your bank, the post office, delivery ser­vice), author­i­ties (for instance the police), or mas­querading as someone close to you (for instance your grand­child, an online acquaintance).

Employing threats, pur­ported urgent mat­ters or accu­sa­tions, they exert psy­cho­log­ical pres­sure on you, with the aim of sys­tem­at­i­cally over­riding your “common sense”. All that to per­suade you to transfer money or dis­close sen­si­tive access data to them.

Does a mes­sage or call trigger strong emo­tions in you? Then you know that your “common sense” is just taking a break. Do the same, take a break, and only return to the matter in hand when you once again have a clear head.