Beware of social engineers’ tricks to gain banking details

THE South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) warns consumers to be wary of social engineers who trick bank customers into divulging personal information that they normally would not disclose.

Social engineering is a form of manipulation used by criminals to trick their victims into giving up confidential information like their banking details.

“Criminals use social engineering because they find it easier to exploit our trusting abilities than to try and compromise our information using other means,” said SABRIC CEO, Kalyani Pillay.

With this in mind, SABRIC urges bank customers to be careful with what information they place on social media platforms.

The organisation also emphasised the importance of tightening security features on social media sites to make it difficult for criminals to steal your information.

Tips that bank customers are encouraged to utilise to avoid social engineering:

• Never provide personal information in response to an unsolicited request, whether it is over the phone or internet.
• Never provide your password over the phone or in response to an internet request.
• Ensure that no-one sees you enter your cellphone banking password on the phone.
• Avoid giving away your verification details aloud in public.
• Do not transfer the line or hand over the phone to a third party after completing self-authentication as cellphone banking is only meant to be used by the account holder.
• Do not reply to suspicious texts or click on unverified links. If the SMS purports to be sent by your bank, call the bank to verify the authenticity of the message.
• Do not log on to any suggested website in the SMS.
• Have different passwords for different accounts, sites and programmes that may store sensitive information.