Don’t be a J R Hartley

Those of us over a certain age will remember the 1983 BT advert for Yellow Pages where J R Hartley was looking for a copy of the book Fly Fishing. The 'ah' moment occurred when it was revealed that he had actually written the book. Why he hadn't kept a copy or how he had lost his last copy was never explained…

Decades later, and a new generation will be more familiar with the term 'phishing' than 'fishing'. Falling for phishing can cost you more than an old book. Wikipedia defines phishing as: the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

As we are always at pains to remind clients, we will never tell of you changes to our bank details by email. If you receive an email giving you details of our 'new' bank account, please phone us immediately without replying to the email and under no circumstances send any money. The chances are that you have been phished and will not recover any money you send. Similarly, we will always contact you by phone if we receive an email from you changing your bank details.

For advice on staying safe on line, one of the best sources of information is: https://www.getsafeonline.org/

To borrow another classic phrase from the 1980s: 'Hey, let's be careful out there' as said every week by Sergeant Phil Esterhaus in Hill Street Blues…