Shopping enthusiasts who are eager to snatch bargains on Black Friday, 29 November have been warned of scams that can clean them out if they are not careful.
Network and Content Security Service Provider Fortinet warned, “Many of the careless consumers will lose out dearly to this evolving shopping culture through risky purchases of purported deals online.”
According to the company, Black Friday has taken the country by storm with many citizens happily lured to the bargains. “Last year, the BankServAfrica reported that local shoppers spent nearly R3 billion in 4.8 million Back Friday sale transactions with this year’s sales expected to be even bigger.”
Bargain hunters are already anticipating to snap up ‘cheap’ items online contrary to the company’s warning that not all online offers are good deals. “This big event is a perfect opportunity for cybercriminals to flood inboxes with non-existing ‘special offers’ leading shoppers to fake websites where they part with their banking details to fraudsters,” said Doros Hadjizenonos, the company’s regional sales director.
He said those ‘gullible’ to phishing will not only not receive the goods ordered but be victims of identity theft and have their bank accounts cleaned out by criminals. The company’s researchers studying phishing domains also reportedly found out recently that South Africa is among the top 20 countries targeted by an influx of phishing attacks. “Fifty-nine per cent of all successful ransomware infections are transported via phishing scams.”
This is supported by the SA Banking Risk Information Centre’s finding on last year’s payment card fraud which cost South Africans over R873 million mostly through cardless online shopping transactions. The company said shoppers were particularly vulnerable to phishing attacks when sifting through masses of special offer emails, or late at night when sifting for the best bargains.
To avoid being scammed, Fortinet recommends shoppers to:
- Avoid clicking to websites linked to emails. Before linking, check the URL. If it replaces letters with numbers, such as amaz0n.com don’t click on it. If you see a tempting deal, go to the known URL site and look for the deal yourself.
- Be sceptical as unusually low prices and high availability of hard-to-find items are red flags for scam sites. There are some good deals but be cautious if a deal looks too good to be true.
- Watch out for rogue mobile apps also used for phishing and to mine for data or instal ransomware. Be wary of unexpected invitations to instal new apps on your mobile device.
- Stick to reputable online retailers and if a site looks unprofessional, with lots of pop-ups, bad grammar, unclear descriptions and misspelt words, it may not be legitimate.
- Ensure the connection is secure and when you are about to make a purchase. Check that the address bar of the browser starts with https:// and not https://, or look for a small lock icon on the browser which may mean that your transaction is protected.
- Check the payment mode before shopping to avoid sites which require direct payments from your bank, wire transfers or untraceable forms of payment.
- Pay through credit card and not debit card as most credit cards have built-in fraud protection and are not directly connected to savings accounts. Or use a credit card with limited available funds in case of potential theft.
- Don’t fall for emails or phone calls even from a bank, asking for personal information or card PIN numbers. Contact the bank if necessary to verify.
- Subscribe to a bank’s SMS notification service to be alerted of every transaction.
- Ensure all devices are updated and patched through the service providers’ regular security updates designed to protect accounts from known threats.
Details: idamarie@redribboncommunications.co.za
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