A WARNING has gone out to residents about e-mail scams after Trading Standards officers at Notts County Council recently received an increased number of complaints.
The e-mails plead for money from accounts belonging to a friend or family member.
Scammers are using technology to predict people's passwords so they can hack into e-mail accounts and send out messages to contacts in their directory.
Messages tend to outline a sad story, such as them being robbed while on holiday, as a basis for asking for money to be transferred over.
The scammer then attempts to convince the receiver to pay money, typically via payment methods that are hard to trace, such as Moneygram or Western Union.
The county council advises that a minimum of 10 characters are used in passwords, with a combination of numbers, letters and symbols.
For more information, contact Citizens Advice consumer helpline on tel: 08454 040506
