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Cyber scammers blow holes in SA wallets

Cape Town - South Africans are facing an increasing threat from cyber criminals who want to steal their money.

According to a new survey security company Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, 64% of South Africans faced threats to steal money during cyber attacks.

The survey was conducted over a year and reflects the growing trend of cyber criminals focused on financial information.

"When explaining how they lost the money, 14% of respondents in South Africa stated that hackers had stolen their money by gaining access to their payment services accounts, 20% believed they had fallen for fraudsters’ tricks and entered their credentials on a fake website and 8% were sure that their logins and passwords had been intercepted by malware," Kaspersky said.

The growth in cyber attacks correlates with the growth in malware. Kaspersky revealed that 48% of respondents reported a malware-related incident within the past year, with one incident in five resulting in financial losses.

Sophisticated financial networks

A recent News24 survey revealed that at least 5% of people clicks on suspicious links sent to them, with 2% saying that they lost a significant amount of money.

Meanwhile, Kaspersky said that, on average, $190 (around R2 000) was stolen from each victim, but some people lost more cash, with one victim losing in excess of $1 000.

Online thieves have begun specialising in identity theft with a view to steal money, and in 2013, Media24 CEO Esmaré Weideman lost thousands in an apparent SIM swop scam.

Criminals use sophisticated financial networks in order to move stolen money through the banking system. It is difficult for banks to block transactions or accounts with serious justification.

One scam is that spammers make use of messages allegedly sent by FedEx which say that a parcel could not be delivered and the user is advised to click on a link to ensure delivery. In many cases, this method downloads malware to the PC.


Spam remains an effective way to deliver malware to computer users. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)

In others, scammers may even follow-up a phishing email (one that looks like it's from a legitimate company) with a phone call to advise on investments where returns will never materialise.

"If you look at the statistics, we're now one of the top targets in the world, and I think it's because you’re dealing with a lot of less sophisticated users in the system," said Sylvia Papadopoulos, lecturer in the Department of Mercantile, Cyber Law at University of Pretoria recently.

Beyond the theft of data and real-world cash, Kaspersky said that recovery from an online attack amounted to around $130 on average.

"Rather than paying for the consequences, it makes much more sense to take care of your security beforehand," said Elena Kharchenko, head of Consumer Product Management at Kaspersky Lab.

Watch this video where Leon van Aswegen of Trustwave explains the basic tips you can do to protect yourself from cyber criminals.



- Follow Duncan on Twitter

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