Don’t fall victim to these common scams, warns police detective

Richards Bay detective urges members of the public to be vigilant and not fall prey to scams

40 seconds ago

Dave Savides 3 minutes read

With the festive season around the corner, a senior SAPS commercial crimes officer warns the public to expect an increase in scams.

“The combination of extra money in purses and accounts plus the lowering of guard during holiday times means syndicates will be out in full force,” said Lt-Col VC Pillay, head of the Commercial Crimes Division at the Richards Bay detective services.

“We continue to open numerous cases after residents have been scammed, and in one current case the loss is in the hundreds of thousands of rands.

“I advise everyone to be sceptical about calls and emails allegedly from banks or businesses, and to never share any bank card information.

“Most cybercrimes involve exploiting clients’ banking vulnerabilities, often posing as a bank official.

“The cybercriminal uses unlawfully obtained – or naïvely shared – data to impersonate the victim and access their funds through identity theft.

“Never, ever provide personal information over the phone or click on suspicious links in emails, SMSs or social media.

“If in doubt, come to my office and check before making any online payment or purchase.

“On top of this is the obvious warning not to draw or carry large sums of cash; people can follow you and attack you.”

Prevalent scams to look out for

Social media adverts

The complainant responds to an email advert offering, for example, a vehicle for sale. This may in fact be a legitimate deal with all the details concerning the car and the seller valid; but the account into which the money is paid is not that of the seller.

This happened to an Empangeni man, who had even gone to the extent of having the vehicle’s registration documents checked by the police.

The account holder is unknown to the legitimate seller and may have duplicated the letterheads or adverts of the company.

One-time passwords (OTPs)

The victim receives a cellphone call from a person pretending to be from his bank. He is told that a fraud is in progress on his bank account and is asked to log into the banking application.

The victim receives OTPs and reads them out to the caller. He later discovers that money has been transferred from his account via cash send transactions or transferred to unknown bank accounts.

SIM-swap scams

While in town, the victim is approached by so-called cellular service providers who are handing out free sim cards which have free talk time or data packages.

The suspects take his phone to set up the new sim card and leave with the old one. The victim later realises he has no access to his banking application and soon discovers that money was transferred from his account via cash send or into other accounts.

Cloned cards

The victim has his ATM card in possession at all times but it has been used to make purchases at stores, restaurants, toll booths, garages or for online purchases.

Lt-Col Pillay also warns about ‘tapping’, citing cases where teens have taken parents’ or grandparents’ cards and used them.

Email scams

Watch out for ‘business’ emails sent from public domains or with vague, generic greetings rather than your name. Never click on an attachment to an unknown email. Check out poor grammar and spelling.

Reject offers of tax rebates, investment opportunities or congratulating you as a ‘winner’. Don’t open warnings such ‘virus detected’ or ‘your email account will lapse tonight’.

Romance scams

Also via social media, a suspect – often a foreign national profiling as a single, wealthy government employee, near retirement age – attracts a potential victim.

Playing on emotions, trust is created. They meet and soon are in a serious relationship; he even rents a flat, paid for in cash, with false particulars. He gets her to resign and join him in business, transferring her money into his account, with an obvious outcome.

Business email compromise

The suspects intercept or hack into email correspondence between two companies and monitor the content. They then manipulate the email address of the company that is to receive payment, making a slight change to the address (eg jooljumpr to jooljump.r), and the money is paid into the wrong account.

Tender scam

With lookalike, fictitious stationery, logos and contact details – often those of a government department – an RFQ (request for quotation) is sent for the urgent supply of goods.

The tender specification is normally so unique that the goods can only be supplied from one source – which of course is a false company created by the fraudster. Once payment is made, the fraud is discovered.

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