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Johannesburg - Shopping online or even at brick-and-mortar stores carries digital risks that consumers need to be aware of this holiday season, says a technology security company.
Network security firm Fortinet has highlighted three digital crimes to keep an eye out for these holidays: ATM fraud, point-of-sale kiosk malware, and online scams and infected retail websites.
The South Africa Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has also released a report this week on the country’s fraud statistics, which detail how criminals are targeting consumers at ATMs, point-of-sale machines and on the internet.
Overall, Sabric has reported gross losses in South Africa’s banking industry owing to locally issued credit card fraud cases of R453.9m in 2014. This figure is up 23% from R366.8m in 2013.
Meanwhile, Sabric says debit card gross fraud losses amounted to R123.5m in 2014 compared to R117.7m in 2013, marking a 5% increase.
Fraud then is on the rise in SA with criminals increasingly finding new technological ways to scam consumers.
ATM fraud
“ATM fraud continues to be a way for criminals to make a fast buck, from ‘jackpotting’ cash machines to installing malware directly on the ATM to skimming card data and recording your PIN,” says Fortinet.
According to the Sabric 2014 fraud report, cash withdrawals at ATMs contributed to 85% of all debit card fraud transactions in the country this year.
“Criminals need both the magnetic stripe information and the PIN of a debit card to successfully transact,” says Sabric in its report.
“The majority of counterfeit debit card fraud can thus be directly linked to card skimming,” adds Sabric.
Sabric in its report further highlights that cards “can be skimmed at ATMs or at points-of-sale and therefore bank clients are urged not to accept assistance from anybody at ATMs and not to let their cards out of sight when transacting”.
Point-of-sale risks
For both business owners and consumers, Fortinet says infected point-of-sale kiosks and other compromised systems have been responsible for major retail breaches over the last year.
“A device can become compromised without physical access to the register. And it sometimes takes retailers a while to detect and neutralise the breach,” the company says.
In instances such as these, Fortinet says consumers can protect themselves by using credit cards rather than debit cards to ensure fraud protection.
“Use a credit card from a financial institution that offers one-time use, time-limited or virtual credit card numbers,” adds Fortinet.
Sabric, in turn, has extra advice for consumers on point-of-sale machines in its 2014 fraud report.
“Never let the card out of your sight when making payments and if possible insert the card into the point-of-sale device yourself,” says Sabric.
Online scams and infected retail websites
Consumers need to watch out for fake online stores that peddle products at “too-good-to-be true prices”, says Fortinet.
Fortinet says these sites also typically sell counterfeit goods, making them doubly suspect.
“Shop only at those stores – online or offline – that you know and trust,” says Fortinet.
Fortinet also advises consumers shopping online to transmit financial information via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology for a safe connection.
Even shopping applications can put consumers at risk.
“Only download shopping applications from an official app store; and delete the app if it asks for too much information at registration,” says Fortinet.
Fortinet further advises consumers on never clicking on email links that claim to be from your bank.
The company suggests using a dedicated browser when shopping online as well.
Meanwhile, Sabric says criminals are also abusing online application channels and using false details to open multiple credit card accounts to receive a legitimate card and PIN.
“Transactions associated with False Applications recorded the biggest increase (1516%), increasing from R4.2m (2013) to R68.8m (2014),” says Sabric.
Following all the above tips then could go some way in protecting your bank balance these holidays.
“Buyers need to beware of possible threats to their personal and financial information whether online, on their phones or in-store,” says Jonas Thulin, Security Consultant at Fortinet.
“Knowing what to watch for and taking measures to protect themselves and their devices is critical to avoid being impacted,” he concludes.
* Follow @GarethvanZyl on Twitter. For more tech news, follow Fin24tech @Fin24_Tech.
