By Kaya 959 Reporter
The South African Banking Risk Information Centre is urging people to tighten security measures on social media.
SABRIC says this way people can avoid becoming targets for hackers wanting to steal their personal information by social engineering.
CEO Kalyani Pillay says social engineering is a form of manipulation used by criminals. They trick people into giving up personal information like banking details.
“Criminals use social engineering because they find it easier to exploit our trusting abilities than to try and compromise our information using other means,” says Pillay.
She adds that criminals use all available information about their victims when they apply social engineering tactics.
“It helps lend some credibility to their communication. Once the victim’s trust is gained, it is more probable that the victim will disclose more information,” says Pillay.
The more information that criminals collect, the more convincing their lie becomes. This makes it easier for them to source the information necessary to defraud bank customers.
SABRIC also emphasises the importance of tightening security features on social media sites to make it difficult for criminals to steal your information.
Pillay says in some cases, hackers are able to use other scams to influence the victim to take actions that benefit the fraudster.
Men posing as love interests to lure women into paying large sums of money is a popular internet dating scam.
SABRIC offers these tips to avoid falling prey to internet scammers:
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Never provide personal information in response to an unsolicited request. Never provide your password over the phone or in response to an internet request.
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Ensure that no one sees you entering your cell phone banking password on the phone
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Avoid giving away your verification details aloud in public.
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Do not transfer the line or hand over the phone to a third party after completing self-authentication. Only the account holder should use cellphone banking.
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Do not reply to suspicious texts or click on unverified links. Please call the bank to verify the authenticity of the message.
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Do not log on to any suggested website in the SMS.
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Have different passwords for different accounts, sites and programs that may store sensitive information.
