Beware of financial fraud
No one is completely safe from financial fraud – and anyone who thinks it happens only to “others” is especially vulnerable of being a victim!
Financial fraud occurs when criminals deceive a person for their gain or to deprive the victim of a legal right. There are many types of financial fraud, but the most common modus operandi is to use ‘social engineering’ techniques to exploit the potential victim’s trust in order to obtain money directly or obtain confidential information that enable the commission of a crime.
Broadly, the pattern involves establishing contact with potential victims, winning their confidence, impersonating an individual, company or authority – and then stealing money.
- Beware of information leaks
Fake emails (phishing) / text messages (SMShing) / telephone calls (vishing) purporting to be from a legitimate source such as your bank or a popular e-commerce site are used to induce individuals to reveal personally or financially sensitive information.
- Beware of callers asking for money
Victims are randomly contacted by a criminal claiming to be an old acquaintance, former colleague, distant relative or someone in a position of authority, and are tricked into sending them money.
- Beware of business trojan horses
Criminals may hack into unsecured email systems and gain sensitive information about business payment systems, with the aim to deceive employees into transferring money into another bank account.
- Beware of romance scams
The criminal develops a relationship with a potential victim through social media networks, with the ultimate goal of defrauding them of their money.
- Beware of offers that sound too good
In this technique, criminals make tall promises they don’t intend to pressure, goad or tempt a potential victim into investing in fraudulent or worthless schemes.
- Beware of online blackmailers
Victims – both men and women – may be enticed or tricked into sharing explicit images or videos, which is then used as leverage to threaten the victim in a blackmail or extortion scheme.
As with any preventive action, the most important defence is awareness...