Like many counties around the world, South Africa is experiencing an increase in the incidence of financial fraud. Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated in creating authentic looking scams using reputable company names such as Wonga ZA, together what appear to be genuine logos.
In order to help you stay out of these fraudsters hands, we would like to take this opportunity to warn you what to be on the lookout for regarding identifying potential frauds. Simply being more aware can save you a lot of grief.
The basics about phishing scams
Phishing is the name that has been given to the fraudulent activity of trying to extort money out of innocent people, by using several different methods. It’s rather like conventional fishing using a lure to attract and catch fish. The lure is, of course, the method that is used, and its content, and the fish is you.
The methods that are commonly used include to construct phishing scams include email, phone calls, SMS texts or messages, and even bogus Facebook communications. They all appear as if theyve come from authentic, legitimate sources like banks, money lenders like Wonga, Facebook, and even tax revenue services like South African Revenue Services. You can check out some typical images of what real SMS text scams look like here.
Phishing communications are sent to trick people into revealing personal information including banking particulars, credit card details and passwords. Once the fraudsters obtain this information, they use it to steal your hard-earned money.
The Deputy of South Africa is fraudulently implicated
There has been a resurgence of phishing scams in South Africa of late, so much so that the Office of the Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been alerted to the fact that his own name and official office are being used in certain scams targeting both businesses as well as members of the general public.
There is an easy way to identify one of these scams. Instead of using the official gov.za website link, these phishing emails are linked to domains in other countries. So even if the email appears to be linked to bona fide businesses like the China Development Bank, the non gov.za originating web address is the giveaway.
Remain alert
So, the message is to remain alert. If you have reason to doubt the validity of a communication, that is your key to tread carefully. Remember that most valid financial institutions will never ask you to divulge specific personal details that could be used in a fraudulent way.
