Almost a quarter of people in the UK believe they may have fallen victim to some kind of online scam according to a new report.

The research from Which? Computing suggests almost half of those surveyed were not aware of phone support scams, where a caller offers to fix bogus computer problems for a fee. 

If you receive this type of call, there are some simple steps you can take:

• Ignore it and hang up
• If you’re in any doubt as to whether your machine does need an anti-virus update, download software only from established, trusted providers
• If still not sure, take your computer to a reputable IT services company to have it checked out

A great way to reduce the chances of falling for an online scam is to take our ThreatTest, which presents you with real life scams in a safe environment so you can check if you would be caught out. You can take the ThreatTest here

You can see a video on our YouTube channel here that explains more about how scammers work. There is also a lot more information about avoiding cybercrime here, while there is lots of advice on how to spot fake websites here and we have some examples of potential scams to be on the lookout for here