There have always been people who try to trick you or force you to do things you don’t want to do. In the past this would have involved a personal interaction of some kind. Currently there are more and more ways of tricking people and stealing from them without alerting them. Artificial Intelligence tools will allow amateur and less-skilled cybercriminals to launch sophisticated phishing attacks. It will be difficult to spot whether emails are genuine , including messages that ask computer users to reset their passwords, and manipulating people to hand over their confidential material. They can make malicious websites that look like genuine websites. They can create fake videos of well-known public figures producing authentic sounding speech. This enables propaganda for disinformation purposes to be generated and spread via social media with relatively little effort. To avoid becoming a victim of online crime you don’t need to be a computer expert The good news is that your ability to get tricked can be mitigated by your behaviour and the steps you take to protect yourself. There are some really helpful articles on the internet that I have gathered and the links in this article are safe to use. Advice from the National Cyber Security Centre https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/information- for/individuals-families Advice from Age Concern. Online safety https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age- uk/documents/information- guides/ageukig05_avoiding_scams_inf.pdf General Safety https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age- uk/documents/information- guides/ageukig01_staying_safe.inf.pdf Metropolitan police https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/d ownloads/central/advice/fraud/met/the-little-book- of-big-scams.pdf General Advice. Devices. Any device that connects to the internet should have a firewall and an anti-virus program. If you use a device outside a home do not connect to public WiFi unless you are connected via a VPN app. Use your phones 4G or 5G mobile connection instead. https://surfshark.com/blog/benefits-of- vpn Always ensure your device has a secure password. Be careful what you download onto your device and check if the website is safe using a website safety checker such as https://transparencyreport.google.com/saf e-browsing/search Further checks you can carry out on a website. The article is good. (I am not necessarily endorsing this product over any other.) https://www.avg.com/en/signal/website- safety Landline and mobile phones. Unwanted Calls or texts. Do not speak. Put the phone down. There is no need to be polite. The caller is the intruder. Get a Call blocking phone. This is an example not necessarily a recommendation ( BT 3110 Phone ). Shop around when you find a model you want. Prices can vary hugely. Register your phones with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) Follow the advice here. https://store.ee.co.uk/guides/ideas- inspirations/how-to-stop-nuisance-calls Email. Resist the temptation to click on links in email, especially if you are not expecting the email or you don’t know the organization. Amazon Website Click on this safe link and see how easy it is to misdirect people. Resist the temptation to open attachments to the email, especially if you are not expecting the email or you don’t know the organization. See this link about phishing. https://swgfl.org.uk/resources/phishing- flowchart/ Block senders of unwanted mail using your email program. Delete unwanted mail unopened. Use a Spam filter like Mailwasher. https://www.mailwasher.net/ Social Media. Do not believe what you read on social media and act on it without verifying it. There are plenty of idiots in the world and all of them are able to post on social media. Do not post any details that identify how to contact you by any method, or how to locate you at your address, or details of things that you are going to do that might indicate you are away from your address. Passwords Do not use the same password for multiple accounts. This is especially important for accounts that give people access to your money or payment methods. Make sure the password is complex. You can use a password generator such as https://www.avast.com/en- gb/random-password-generator#pc Some Internet browsers will generate and store passwords for you. Google Chrome for example. https://support.google.com/chrome/an swer/7570435?hl=en- GB&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDeskto p Change your passwords from time to time. If you are given the option turn on Two Factor Authentication. https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/types -of-two-factor-authentication/48446/ The links in this document are safe, but may change over time. Some of the links are from commercial websites. The reason for including them is for their good advice and is not a recommendation of the product. There are plenty of free products available that address the basic security requirements. Paid versions have better features. Stay safe and don’t get too paranoid about security.