Expert shares tips to avoid online and phone scams
Some 46% of South Africans are targets of fraud, says Stuart Bartley, a digital communication specialist, who spoke at a talk on fraud, which was held at Paul Greyling Primary School on Saturday.
About 50 people attended the talk organised by the Fish Hoek Community Police Forum and SAPS.
Fish Hoek police spokesperson Warrant Officer Peter Middleton earlier told the Echo that fraud cases in the Fish Hoek area had increased by 20% from April to June this year compared to the same period last year.
Fraud-related crimes at six retirement homes around the far south had dropped or become almost non-existent since similar talks had been held at them, he said.
Mr Bartley started with phishing, which is a type of online scam that targets people by sending them an email that appears to be from a well-known source such as an internet service provider or a bank. It asks for personal identifying information.
Mr Bartley encouraged people to think before clicking on any links and to question everything.
“Ask yourself, ‘Do I know this business? Was I expecting this email?’” he said.
He urged people to stay as anonymous as possible and create strong passwords longer than eight characters using a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.
Make the password unique, he said, and “don’t make it related to you at all”.
Use different passwords for different apps, especially banking apps, and never re-use a password or use a personal reference in a password, he said.
Look at the layout, design, and spelling in the email as well as the address it was sent from to check its authenticity, and never download any attachments or click on any links, he said.
Smishing, he said, was when fraudsters sent an SMS to random cellphones, asking you to click on links to verify information.
SMSes from the South African Revenue Service, courier services and banks were good examples because most people would react to them, he said.
Question the validity of such an SMS if you weren’t expecting it and rather phone the relevant institution, he said.
Phone or voice fraud, known as vishing, he explained, was where fraudsters targeted you by phone and tried to trick you into divulging personal, financial, or security information.
A bank would never ask you to download a document by email or to share any of your personal information over the phone, he said.
Be careful about what you posted on social media because fraudsters could use it to build a picture of your identity, he said.
“Think about security questions such as your mother’s maiden name, where you work, where you went to school, your date of birth.”
Warrant Officer Middleton encouraged everyone to report all fraud-related crimes to the police.
For more information or to view Saturday’s presentation, visit the Fish Hoek Community Police Forum’s Facebook page.
