Having heard about two attempts to perpetrate scams against u3a members, we started by looking at the types of scams involved. One was a bank transfer scam where an individual is persuaded their account is at risk and the funds need to be protected by transferring them to a 'safe' account. The other was an attempt at a SIM Swap scam whereby the scammer tries to gather as much information about the potential victim as possible with the aim of persuading the victim's mobile phone provider to cancel the existing SIM card and issue a new one to them. This then means they can potentially carry out fraudulent online transactions and get access to authorisation codes using the new SIM card.
We moved on to look at the caller options available on iPhone. They are useful in stopping some nuisance calls but care needs to be taken as the moves can prevent some organisations, e.g. hospitals, getting in touch when it might be important.
In the interests of lightening our wallets and purses, we then looked again at Apple Wallet and a less comprehensive but still useful app called Supercards. These apps can store information such as loyalty cards, tickets, boarding cards, etc. Wallet can additionally be used to make secure payments in shops, restaurants, etc. allowing the user to keep close track of expenditure.
Our next meeting was not originally scheduled but will now take place as usual in Enterprise House on 24 November at 1:30pm.
Report by Mike Sweeting