Cyber frauds & scams and how to prevent them.

Phishing, Hacking, Identity Theft

One of the consequences of the pandemic situation we are suffering is the increase number of cases of cyber attacks and scams. These criminal offences are not only addressed to companies, but also to individuals, hence the importance to know more about what it is and what you can do to protect yourself.

A Cyber fraud can be considered as any fraudulent crime which is conducted via a computer or computer data. These crimes are extensive. Fraudsters can use the cyber world to gain access to victims’ personal identity, their online accounts and their bank accounts. Normally they can use the money and information obtained from this attack to fund themselves. The extensive and popular use of internet banking and mobile banking means there are more opportunities than ever for criminals to commit cyber fraud.

What are currently the most popular frauds?

As mentioned before, there are many of them and new ones that are coming up at the moment.

To mention some of the most common ones we can say:

PHISHING – A cyber crime in which the victim is contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords. The information is then used to access accounts and can result in identity theft and financial loss.

HACKING – Hacking activities are carried out by cyber criminals in order to breach software, applications, computers, mobile devices and databases for financial gain or to commit espionage.

IDENTITY THEFT – It consists of impersonating either a customer or an employee in order to infiltrate the network, programs or software of the corporation and take their data, as well as carry out banking and commercial transactions for the benefit of the offender. In addition to financial losses, this causes severe damage to the company’s reputation, as it directly affects customers, partners and suppliers. 

It can also happen that criminals are monitoring the mails a company sends and can intercept an e-mail with bank information, asking the addressee to use a different account for a payment of a bill.

How can you protect against cyber fraud?

Here you have some recommendations to protect you from cyber fraud:

1. Learn to identify a possible fraud or scam
2. Revise very thoroughly the sender´s e-mail address. They normally use e-mail addresses very similar to the originals, but there is always something different.
3. If you are asked to pay a bill from to a different bank account by e-mail, make sure you phone the sender to confirm the correct account number for the payment of the bill.
4. Revise the grammar and words used to write the mail. There are expressions or odd words which can led us to believe there is something wrong on it.
5. Make sure you destroy all traces of your personal and financial information from your computer.
6. Finally, make sure you protect your computer with an anti-virus software to combat any contact made between the fraudster and your computer.

If you are a victim of a cyber fraud, it is very important you report it, for the authorities to know more about these type of crimes. In Spain we have the GDT of the Guardia Civil (which stands for Grupo de Delitos Informáticos).

Stay safe!