The holiday season, this time Christmas and the civil year, marks a peak in the volume of digital financial scams. The Israeli cyber company BioCatch, which specializes in preventing online scams using behavioral biometrics, is releasing recommendations during this period that can help those targeted by online scams. “Around the Tishrei holidays, and this time also towards Christmas, we heard about an increase in the appearance of text messages that cause us to click on a link through which criminals receive information that allows them access to users’ accounts” – This is what Eilat Eliezer, vice president of the company, says.
“For example, through messages that report the raffle of gift vouchers to a large supermarket and turn out to be a scam in which personal information is collected (Fishing) Or you are requested to download software to your phone that collects personal information (Malware). The notifications that disconnect the electricity bill, or of a package that is supposed to arrive and payment is required with an attached link, are also very familiar. In practice, however, the goal is to steal personal and identity details “- Added.
“Common scams for Christmas and New Year’s are scamsFishing“In which the imposters ‘fish’ are sensitive identifying information such as credit card information, ID card or username and password.” – says Eilat. “The” fishing “is done via text message (also called Smashing) Or an email, which includes a link to a malicious website that impersonates a shopping site with an attractive offer.
“In addition, there are telephone scams (Vishing), In which the impostor / thief presents himself as a representative of a bank or credit card company and claims that a debit was made from your credit account that you did not make and “just want to cancel” and methods of ‘social engineering’ exploit the victim’s weaknesses. Credit card or secret code. “- stamping
In terms of financial entities, phishing is perceived as the biggest threat of fraud. According to a recent survey conducted by Biocatch in Europe and North America, the biggest threats to entities are:
- Fishing.
- Taking over a client’s financial account by an offender.
- Software takeover, usually malware (Financial Malware) When the latter impersonates the software of the financial institution and takes over the computer or laptop.
- “Synthetic identity” scam. Fake human identity, used by criminals using stolen data of real people, such as credit card and bank account.
- Telephone fraud through social engineering – 58% which utilizes the psychological and sensitive traits of the victim that may lead him to obey the requests of an impostor or thief.
BioCatch recommends measures to prevent identity theft and account information fraud. Do not click on links that appear suspicious or those that came from an unknown source. Do not download files from places you do not trust. Do not give away the secret code you received in the SMS, neither for any telephone body nor for any internet body (including WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram)
If you have already provided your personal details, you must change all your passwords as soon as possible and take care of two-step verification wherever possible (for example, in your email). If you find out that you have been the victim of a scam, contact the bank’s fraud department or the credit card company of which you are a customer immediately. It is important to remember that it is something that looks or sounds too good to be true, it usually is not.
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