Fraud In Social Media: 68% In South Africa Encountered Online Scammers In The Last Year, Kaspersky Informs

According to a Kaspersky survey¹, 68% of South African respondents highlighted that they or their loved ones suffered from criminals via social networks. In most cases fraudsters pretended to be familiar to potential victims: the manipulation scheme presented a request for help from a friend (59%).

Users may not recognise immediately who the person on the other side of the screen is. Though the majority of respondents mentioned that they or their loved ones identified the scammers immediately (63), 30% still needed to start a dialogue for doing this.

“Social media are highly integrated in our daily life and scammers just cannot miss the opportunity to reach users directly through all the popular platforms. The fraudsters may find your personal data in your social media account and use it, for example with social engineering methods. In this case, we shouldn’t forget about basic security rules. For example, it’s better to hide private data and double-check your interlocutor if he urgently asks to transfer money or open a suspicious link”, comments Maher Yamout, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky.

People also try to stay safe from scammers through special apps and programs. According to the survey, at least 49% of local respondents use special security solutions (antivirus) to protect themselves against online scams, 45% installed Caller ID and 31% apply built-in phone functions (blacklist and etc.) against phone fraud.

Kaspersky reminds you about the basic security rules:

• Do not click on suspicious links in emails and messages in chats
• If you have found out about a particular promotion and want to participate, check the official website or official social media accounts to reassure that this company or brand is holding it
• Install a reliable security solution with up-to-date databases of phishing sites, scam and spam, such as Kaspersky Total Security
• Never share confidential information with third parties, including a one-time code from an SMS or push notification
• Install a solution that detects phone numbers of spammers and fraudsters
• Remember: If an offer on the Internet sounds too tempting to be true, then most likely it is fake

Reference:

¹The survey was conducted in conjunction with Toluna research agency in the end of 2020 – beginning of 2021.

About Kaspersky

Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.co.za.