68% of people in South Africa dealt with fraudsters who were trying to steal money, bank card details, Internet banking credentials in 2020, according to Kaspersky research. The report goes on to reveal that 58% of people consider that scammers had targeted them or their loved ones more frequently during the Coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation.
“Scammers often adapt their manipulations to the current agenda. During the pandemic, some scammers tried to exploit people’s anxiety to make money in the increased demand for certain goods while others focused on citizens’ desire for freedom,” says Maher Yamout, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky.
“No matter what kind of tricks the scammers use, users should follow the basic rules of cybersecurity.”
The most popular way of protection against online scams was to ignore messages or emails from strangers and invitations to follow suspicious links (81%). Also, 49% of people use special protection solutions (antivirus).
Here are the six basic rules of online security:
- Do not click on suspicious links in emails and messages in chats.
- If you have found out about a particular promotion and want to participate, check the official website or official social media accounts to reassure that this company or brand is holding it.
- Install a reliable security solution with up-to-date databases of phishing sites, scam and spam.
- Use different email addresses to register on various services.
- Never share confidential information with third parties, including a one-time code from an SMS or push notification.
- Remember that if an offer on the Internet sounds too tempting to be true, then most likely it is fake.
