Beware: Top 10 Internet scams – Common Online Scams

With every advance in technology, it seems, the more imaginative the scams that take advantage of people. Unless you’ve been a recluse with no Internet, cellphone, bank card or car, you will have encountered a fraudster intent on scamming you.

Most people online receive email scams on a weekly basis. Most of the time they are purporting to come from your bank, prompting you to do something online that results in debits on your account and a loss of money. Recently, I had my credit card “skimmed” at a popular restaurant, and within 24 hours, a lot of money was withdrawn in cash from my account.

Arguably the most unconscionable scams are perpetrated on people who are lonely or naively generous, like the women who fall for “419 heartbreakers”, confidence tricksters who romance them online and then con them out of money.

Cybercrime costs countries millions every year, even though the scamsters have to work hard to get a “hit”. Only a few people will respond and among those who respond, very few of them will pay the money. But someone always takes the bait, unfortunately, which is why scamming continues to be a widespread scourge. So never participate in any “sale of goods”, “survey”, “competition”, “lottery” or “inheritance” scheme requiring any personal information over the phone or the Internet.

If you’re selling something online, confirm the payment on your banking app before releasing the goods. If the buyer sends you a “payment confirmation”, the chances are it’s fake. And if you don’t remember entering a competition or buying a lottery ticket, you haven’t won anything.

One of the easiest way to avoid these scams is to use a prepaid mobile number, so you cannot sign up for recurring charges by accident. Another way is to use the Truecaller app as your default phone calling and SMS app.

The top 10 Internet scams to look out for:

1. The 419 heartbreaker scam – the 419 scams have been around since the dawn of the Internet. It is one of the oldest ones usually about an inheritance worth millions that the sender is due, but your bank account details are needed to deposit the funds into. In return for which you’ll receive a percentage of the money. But the 419 scam is always evolving. The latest is the “419 heartbreaker” scam. In a recent episode of M-Net’s Carte Blanche, Monique Roeloffse nearly got scammed after meeting “Josef Werner” on an online dating site. After romancing her for a few weeks, he came up with a story that he’d been in a submarine accident and had lost all his money. Inevitably, she was asked to send a cash advance, but fortunately, she smelled a rat. The scammer’s communication looks authentic and oozes charm, but the reality is that these are being generated by criminal syndicates, usually from Nigeria.
2. Phishing: These are the emails seemingly from your bank requesting various online actions, all to gain access to your bank accounts. The website page that you click on looks the same as your bank’s official website, and you may even receive an OTP on your cellphone. Next thing you knew, an amount will be debited from your account. In all these attacks, it’s your banking information that the fraudsters are after. Without the account holder’s banking details and passwords, the fraud would simply not be possible. Don’t click on any email from your bank, rather use your bank app instead.
3. Smishing: Africa has one of the highest cellphone penetration rates in the world, so it’s a wide open field for phishing using SMS or text messages. Many people receive an SMS requesting account verification or, occasionally, an alarmist message requesting you to make a call rather than go to a false link. The person on the other end of the line is a fraudster adept at eliciting critical information, including your banking PIN code. Remember, as all banks keep telling us, you will never be asked for your PIN by phone.
4. False payment confirmations: A complainant on HelloPeter said she advertised furniture on Gumtree that was bought by someone called Max. He said he’d deposited money into her account, and she received an SMS confirming this. However, when she checked with her bank account, no money reflected. The hoax payment confirmation by SMS usually appears to come from your bank. Always verify that the money is indeed in your account before releasing the goods. This is especially common when buyers want to use PayPal to pay you instead of payment via the selling platform or directly into your bank account.
5. Unethical app download charges: Criminals and unethical developers are now using premium-rated SMSes to defraud people via the mobile applications they download. Google removes hundreds of apps from the Android Playstore because they conned people into agreeing to premium SMS messages. This may not strictly be fraud but certainly is unethical in that the charges are hidden by misleading terms and conditions, and the application’s sign-up process doesn’t give you the option to 0pt-out of this. The first line of defence against any SMS fraud is to diligently check your phone bills for any unusual amounts being deducted. And only download the apps with the highest ratings, while avoding those with no reviews. Check the permissions that you grant the apps on installation: you should be sceptical if a game, for instance, requires access to address books, or needs the ability to send text messages.
6. SIM swaps: One of the outcomes of a phishing scam could be a SIM swap. The fraudster already has your cellphone number and can get enough additional information to request a SIM swap from your mobile network. They then have access to both your bank account details and the SIM card needed to complete transactions. Fortunately, most mobile networks have tightened up on their SIM swap processes. If your cellphone ever stops working for no reason, you should assume the worst and contact your bank and moboile network immediately to block the sim card.
7. Credit card skimming: Card skimming is a global problem and usually takes place when a scammer capture card data on devices similar to those used for legitimate POS or ATM transactions. These devices fit over the card slot on an ATM and can even include a camera to record the PIN. However, the main point of compromise is when you hand your card to someone to do a transaction. A waiter may take your card away briefly, and when they return, you entered your PIN without covering it with your other hand. Never let your card out of your sight, and when entering your PIN, cover the PIN pad.
8. Unscrupulous subscription services: Cellphone users need to be aware that unscrupulous mobile companies can bill any South African cell number and even detect and record your cellphone number if you browse their websites using your phone. Unlike the desktop Internet, where credit card numbers need to be entered and orders confirmed, on a mobile device, all that is needed to bill you is your cellphone number. A notorious one is Mobthumbs, which sends you an SMS saying you’re now subscribed to it, at a cost of R20 a day. You need to send “stop” in reply to a message received. The service should, in most cases, be stopped, or alternatively, result in an error message with details on how to properly unsubscribe from the service. Once again, you need to check your phone bill looking for charges you didn’t authorise or ongoing charges for subscription services that you didn’t realise weren’t one-offs.
9. Counterfeit merchandise: If you’re buying anything expensive, beware of fakes. It can be a big business, and a lot of it is happens online. Recently, police arrested four men who tried to con a businessman into buying fake gems, which were ostensibly worth hundreds of thousands of Rand. The businessman set up a sting operation, and the men were arrested. The “gems” were nothing more than four pieces of glass covered in the melted silicone tube of a TV set.
10. Microsoft scam: You receive call a call claiming to be from a Microsoft employee. They tell you they have found out you have a problem with your computer (who hasn’t?). Then they ask you all sorts of questions and prompt you to do all sorts of things with your computer “to sort out the problem”. The real purpose is to get into your computer remotely and access all your private information, files and documents. Sometimes, you’ll be told you’ve won the “Microsoft Lottery” and that Microsoft “requires your credit card information to validate your copy of Windows software”. Another one is an unsolicited email from “Microsoft” requesting a “security update”. Avoid these, block and report the numbers.

This blog post was inspired by a report on IOL News and led to an interview on Radio Islam.