Durban - As millions of shoppers throng malls and trawl online sites for last-minute gifts, crooks are working around the clock to take advantage of festive season cheer.
Experts say there’s usually a surge in goodwill during this period, with an equally high rise in crime as thieves, scammers and fraudsters pounce on the unwary.
IT expert Dr Colin Thakur said the festive season was an emotional one in which people were likely to open their hearts while others felt intense sadness ‒ in either situation they became sitting ducks for thieves.
“Your desire to do good elevates and for others the emotional loneliness exacerbates,” said Thakur, who is based at the Durban University of Technology.
He said people let their guard down in the holiday season, making it a lucrative opportunity for scoundrels.
Thakur said that since Covid, most financial institutions had remote engagement with customers, including from call centres. This had led to a rise in vishing where the rogue caller pretends to be from a bank wanting to assist a client from falling prey to fraud.
“People are now being phoned and told there is something wrong with their account. It seems as if you are receiving a call from a legitimate telephone number but thieves are impersonating calls because the numbers look the same as that of a bank.”
He said through a combination of vishing and IP spoofing, the threat appeared to be real. Thakur said the callers were “very convincing” because they micro-profiled people before striking and learnt where they lived, what car they drove, their nicknames, where they worked and used all other details they could find on social media.
He gave an example of people being tricked into changing their car insurance and when it was time to claim, the victims discovered they had been paying money into an unknown person’s account.
“They are not after large amounts, they are after a large number of victims for small amounts. They know people will not bother with the hassle of going after them for small amounts like 1k or 2k,” Thakur said.
He said smishing was another trap because victims received an SMS with a link supposedly from a bank and since an SMS cost money, people assumed it was real.
“Never, ever click on any link in an SMS, no matter who its from,” he warned. He said this rule should apply all the time, even though organisations like the SABC also sent links in via an SMS.
“The one thing people can do for now, if you do nothing else, is go and change every password you have,” Thakur advised.
He said people out shopping or dining should never allow anyone to touch their bank cards because the card details could be cloned through skimming and someone could then spend at your expense.
He also appealed to those who were lonely not to send money to someone they had met on the internet. He warned that pictures, voices and accents could all be changed to con people into pretending they were someone else.
The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) Reana Steyn said digital fraud had surpassed ATM scams, both in the number of complaints received and investigated by the OBS, as well as the amount of money victims had lost.
“It has clearly become a very lucrative business for organised criminals and because of this, it is safe to assume that such crime will remain a threat for bank customers for the foreseeable future,” she said.
Steyn said the success of these scams was largely due to bank customers who, willingly or unwillingly, disclosed their confidential banking details such as their card number, PIN, passwords, One-Time-Pin (OTP) and bank card CVV to the fraudsters.
“In our investigation of these types of complaints, we have found no evidence that pointed to the bank systems being compromised and leading to the fraudsters obtaining the confidential banking details mentioned above.”
Steyn said fraudsters had refined their tactics to ensure they deceived their victims to get access to their bank accounts. “Evidence suggests that their modus operandi is to cast their net very wide in the hopes of catching as many victims as possible into their trap, irrespective of age, gender, race, etc,” said Steyn.
The elderly are highly susceptible to financial exploitation and scamming, especially when asking for help. The OBS said because of new banking technologies, the elderly were more vulnerable to digital banking scams especially vishing. Steyn said this caused financial and emotional damage which were often irreparable.
The Association for the Aged (Tafta) agreed that few of its elders had embraced technology. They would ask for help at ATMs or unknowingly take scam calls and provide their personal information, putting them at risk of being exploited.
Tafta chief executive officer Femada Shamam said the aged became more vulnerable when places were crowded, especially during the holiday season.
She said in two separate incidents recently, the elderly were robbed of their bank cards, money and cellphones while walking near the Durban beachfront.
Tafta invited police and community policing forum members to talk to the elderly about safety, said Shamam.
In November Tafta launched its national toll free elder abuse helpline which they could use in any situation. By dialling 0800 101 110 the elderly will receive free, confidential counselling.
The Independent on Saturday