Fraud Awareness Cybercrime is any criminal or illegal activity that targets or is carried out via the internet or computers, mostly with the intent of making money. Cybercrime and fraud have become more rampant as the computer and the internet have become central to commerce, entertainment, and work and everyday lives. The motives of these cybercrimes are to: Gain access to financial accounts. Create new accounts or make purchases under your name. Lock your files or find personal information that can be used to blackmail you. Communicate through social media or email under your name in order to get money from others Some of the techniques used by cyber criminals are: Social Engineering, phishing, malware, preying on naivety or carelessness of users · Phishing (Smishing/Vishing): When an attacker sends an email, text or call that’s designed to get you to click a link or download a file, either to give away important information or to trigger malware (malicious software) downloading onto your computer. They often look like real emails and can imitate legitimate websites, for example from a company you use asking you to make a payment or reset a password. · Social Engineering: When someone pretends to be someone they are not in order to trick you to give them confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes. · Malware: These comes in the form of viruses and software that can be used to steal information from your device and send it back to the criminal. · Preying on the ignorance or carelessness of users: In some cases, cybercriminals do not need to use sophisticated methods to gain access to information or people’s accounts. Using a phone without a lock, sharing your passwords with others, using the same password for multiple accounts, writing down your password, visiting and download files from unsafe websites, connecting to unsafe Wi-Fi, sharing of OTP can make it easier for a cybercriminal to gain access to your account. Some tips to identify fraud The message or email is sent from a public email domain (gmail, yahoo) or has a wrong SMS sender ID You receive a message with a deal or offer that seems too good to be true The name of the bank in the message is spelt wrongly. Even if one letter is in the wrong place, it should raise your suspicion The SMS or email has grammatical or spelling errors It is asking you to provide some personal information, eg, PIN, OTP, Password The message creates a sense of urgency or contains a message that makes you panic or put fear in you. Examples: Your account has been locked, or blocked. Your card has been blocked. They’ve noticed some suspicious activity on your account Tips to prevent yourself from becoming a victim 1. If you get a text message, email or call that you weren’t expecting and it asks you to give out some personal information, don’t take the bait. Don’t click on any links either. We will not ask for sensitive information about your account by text, email or call. You can always call our contact centre to verify the text message, call or email. Also: 2. Be careful of offers on the internet that seem too good to be true 3. Do not put out too much information about yourself on social media. Fraudsters can use this information to learn about you and pretend to be someone you know or who knows you 4. Do not share your password, PIN or OTP with anyone 5. Protect your SIM card with a PIN 6. Do not use public devices when accessing your banking portals 7. You should never follow a banking link sent to you in a text message (especially on social media) or e-mail; instead navigate directly to the Bank’s Website. 8. Be cautious of any SMS or text or email or call that creates a sense of urgency or panic, telling you your account has been compromised and asking you to click on a link to update or to give out some personal information to update your account. 9. Always lock your phone when not in use and ensure your phone has a secure lock.
