Watch out for cyber criminals ahead of Valentine's Day, public warned

A boy selling Valentine's Day balloons waits for customers on a wet day in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

A boy selling Valentine's Day balloons waits for customers on a wet day in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Published Feb 13, 2020

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JOHANNESBURG - Global cyber security company Kaspersky has warned romantic hopefuls against sharing too much personal information with strangers online ahead of Valentine's Day on Friday.

In a statement, it said cyber criminals specialising in phishing would not miss the chance to feed on those desperate to find love.

"Online dating has made our lives easier and yet uncovered new risks on the path to love," the head of advanced threat research and software classification at Kaspersky, Vladimir Kuskov said.

"We advise users to stay attentive and use legal versions of applications that are available in official application stores."

Kaspersky said its research showed that in 2019 1,486 threats had been circulated under the guise of over 20 popular dating applications in Africa, with 7,734 attacks on 2,548 users detected.

Kaspersky head of advanced threat research and software classification Vladimir Kuskov. PHOTO: Supplied by Kaspersky

Users in South Africa suffered the most attacks, accounting for 58 percent, followed by Kenya with 10 percent and Nigeria with four percent.

"Popular dating apps used worldwide, such as Tinder, Bumble or Zoosk, often become a bait used to spread mobile malware or retrieve personal data to later bombard the users with unwanted ads or even spend their money on expensive paid subscriptions," Kaspersky said.

"Such files have nothing to do with legitimate apps, as they only use a name and sometimes copy a design of authentic dating services."

African News Agency

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