Cybercrime is growing exponentially as more people become dependent on communications technology that is constantly evolving.

Today, most of us use a personal computer, a mobile phone or even more advanced gadgets to communicate. We increasingly pay bills through online banking systems, order goods from abroad and pay by credit card and give very personal information to various services suppliers trusting that this will be used for our benefit.

Unfortunately, the convenience of cyber communication often blinds us into lowering our guard against criminals who are constantly finding creative ways of taking money from our pockets even if they do this over the phone or through scam e-mails.

Over the past few weeks, many unsuspecting people received phone calls from unknown people “with an Asian accent” offering to fix their PCs with remote diagnostics and also to sell anti-virus software. They then used this information to skim money from the victims’ bank accounts.

This latest scam is certainly not the only one targeting unsuspecting people who love their electronic gadgets. Spam e-mails flow in the electronic mailboxes of thousands of people every day.

These electronic messages vary in their approach of how best to rob us of our money. Some are pathetic appeals for monetary aid by fake victims of some serious illness or other misfortune. Others make offers of get-rich-quick schemes that promise to make you a millionaire practically overnight if only you were to give them very sensitive personal information about your bank account.

Many computer literate users are savvy enough to spot cyber scams almost immediately. The Times carried an enlightening story of an elderly lady from Birżebbuġa who dealt very smartly with a scam caller who offered to fix her inexistent computer. This lady is quoted as telling off the scam caller by saying: “Why don’t you just go away and leave me alone? I know it’s a scam.” It is worth memorising this simple but effective quote in case one is ever confronted with an obvious cyber criminal.

While one can understand that many inexperienced people can easily be fooled by the mellifluous language of cyber scammers, we could all benefit by remembering certain fundamental principles of common sense whenever we find ourselves in unfamiliar circumstances.

Anyone making us an offer that seems too good to be true is almost certainly not a humanitarian zealot but a cunning fraudster who wants us to lower our guards of prudence.

We would do well to take time before rushing into accepting an offer made on the phone for a service we did not request. It also makes sense to have a friend who is more familiar with cyber communications and can advise us.

But perhaps the most common weakness that can expose us to substantial damage from cyber fraudsters is greed.

Many of us like to fool ourselves into thinking we are smarter than the guy next door and can spot a bargain when we see one. Who wouldn’t love to get rich overnight with just a little effort? In real life, this life-changing luck happens very infrequently. In all other cases, we have to work hard to build our nest eggs and have to be very careful to protect these nest eggs from unscrupulous and relentless fraudsters.

Common sense and lifelong ITC education are the smartest tools we have to deal with cybercrime.