PUBLIC NOTICE - F.S.C - Public Warnings

This notice is issued by the Financial Supervision Commission (“the Commission”) in accordance with the powers conferred upon it under Section 30 of the Financial Services Act 2008.

The Commission has become aware of an increasing number of reports of Island residents having received ‘cold calls’ from persons purporting to represent Microsoft or Windows, sometimes claiming to be ‘engineers’.

Recipients of the calls are asked to reveal personal and banking details which may be used to assist in fraudulent activity at a later date.

The Commission would caution anyone receiving unexpected telephone calls seeking personal or banking information against revealing information unless they are able to independently verify the bona fides of the caller.

The Island’s Office of Fair Trading in conjunction with Allan Paterson, the Director of Isle of Man Government’s Information Systems Division at the Department of Economic Development have published the following security advice for local computer users;

Protect your computer:

  • Make sure you have up-to-date anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and a firewall, and that you let them get automatic updates
  • Make sure your operating system is up-to-date and automatically updated
  • Make sure you use up-to-date applications, such as your web browser or word processing package, again allowing automatic updates
  • Encrypt your wireless network if you have one
  • Block spam or junk emails, using the rules in your e-mail system – if you get junk into your main inbox, move it to the junk folder

Stay vigilant online:

  • Use different strong passwords – not dictionary words - a mix of letters, numbers, special characters
  • Be very careful about how much personal information (away from home, date of birth, address, etc) you give away on blogs and social networking sites
  • Make sure you activate privacy settings on social networking sites
  • Don’t open email attachments or website links from people you don’t know, and don’t open them from people you do know unless you’re absolutely sure that it’s a genuine message.

Mr Paterson also raised the issue of chainmail emails warning users of viruses which are circulating and where in reality the virus would be picked up by up-to-date anti-virus software. His advice is rather than perpetuate the chain potentially clogging up the internet and spreading panic, users can check out the validity of the warning at www.snopes.com and www.hoax-slayer.com

FSC reference: NDR/012/2010