Be aware of the various forms of online fishing scams

The coronavirus pandemic has left the internet as the primary source of interaction – whether it be work or personal errands.

Combine this with many scrambling to meet financial obligations or find new sources of income, and the situation becomes rife for exploitation by the criminally inclined. The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) urges bank customers to make a conscious decision to practice good habits to avoid becoming victims of cyber crime.

Three common variants of scams revolve around extracting personal information from an unsuspecting mark, namely phishing, vishing and smishing scams.

Roodepoort Police spokesperson Captain Juanita Yorke clarified the three and offered several helpful tips:

Phishing is when an email requests the user to click on a link in the email which then directs them to a ‘spoofed’ website, designed to fool users into thinking that it is a legitimate attempt to obtain, verify or update contact details or other sensitive financial information. The spoofed website will look almost exactly like that of a legitimate or a well-known financial institution. Phishing emails, which are a form of spam emails, are typically sent in large numbers to consumer email accounts.

Vishing is when fraudsters phones their victims posing as a bank official or service provider and uses social engineering tactics to manipulate them into disclosing confidential information, while at the same time leading them to believe that they are speaking to the bank or service provider. This information is then used to defraud the victim.

Smishing, short for ‘SMS phishing’ and is like Phishing, except that a user is tricked into downloading malware onto their mobile device. This is then used to fraudulently obtain sensitive information by sending out text messages asking users to call a number or click on a link. Phishing, vishing and smishing are all methods of deceitfully obtaining personal information such as passwords, ID numbers and bank card details by tricking clients into believing that they are from trusted sources, such as banks or legitimate companies.

Here are some tips approved by police and SABRIC:

• Do not click on links or icons in unsolicited emails.-
• Never reply to these emails. Delete them immediately.
• Do not believe the content of unsolicited emails blindly. If you are concerned about what is being alleged in the email, use your own contact details to contact the sender and confirm.-
• Always type in the uniform resource locator (URL) or domain name for your bank in the address bar of your internet browser if you need to access your bank’s website.
• Check that you are on your bank’s genuine website before inputting any personal information.- Make sure that you are not on a spoof site by clicking on the security icon on your browser tool bar to see that the URL begins with ‘https’ rather than ‘http’.
• Check for a closed green padlock next to the URL of the website. A green padlock shows that your connection with the website is secured and encrypted.
• If you think that you might have been compromised, contact your bank immediately.
• Create complicated passwords that are not easy to decipher and change them often.
• Banks will never ask you to confirm your confidential information over the phone.
• If you receive a phone call requesting confidential or personal information, do not respond and end the call.
• If you receive an OTP on your phone without having transacted yourself, it was likely prompted by a fraudster using your personal information. Do not provide the OTP telephonically to anybody. Contact your bank immediately to alert them to the possibility that your information may have been compromised.
• If you lose mobile connectivity under circumstances where you are usually connected, check whether you may have been the victim of a SIM swop.