What is Phishing?
Phishing is fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information via phone calls where scammers impersonate a bank, SARS or any well known business. They operate in such a way that tricks people into believing their stories and people often end up sharing sensitive information under the pretense that they are doing the right thing. Phishing can come in the form of phone calls, smses and emails.
Scammers will use persuasive methods to trick you into sharing sensitive information with them for their personal gain. What usually happens after sharing personal information with these scammers, is that your information is used by these scammers to access social media apps, banking apps or use it to sign you up for a service you had no intention of signing up for.
Scammers will usually have a well thought out story; the story may be something like “We at NedBank have noticed that someone tried to gain access to your account and we need your pin number to confirm that it is you” or they may say “Hello Mr. Jacobs, we are just phoning to follow up on a call you made recently and we need you to confirm your ID number”.
You can usually identify a phishing call by the way that they introduce themselves or by the way they refer to you, Ma’am/Sir. Some of these calls are automated and you will hear a robotic voice that says congratulations or you have been chosen; these are all ways to peak your interest and get you to share your personal information. Key words you should listen for or look for are “confirmation of your ID number, Pin number or email address”. These can be used in various ways and are always requested with malicious intent.
Phishing can be highly personalized to you, for example if you have a bank account with FNB, a scammer might phone you pretending to be someone from FNB. They will use this information to convince you to share information and because you are a member of FNB, you may think its okay to share sensitive information with your bank. These highly personalized approaches make these calls, smses and emails seem convincing.
When it comes to phishing, you should stay alert when you are on the phone with an unknown caller and always remember to never share any sensitive information online. You can take it a step further and block these numbers to prevent them from calling and texting you. This will limit their reach to you – sometimes they will phone or sms you from a different number but then you should just block that number too.
With regards to emails, you can report them as spam or unsubscribe to the email list at the bottom of the email. By unsubscribing you can prevent further communication from being sent to you. Remember to never respond to these emails and to never share any personal information with them.
Always stay alert when you receive any phone call from a number that you don’t recognize. Remember, your bank would never ask you to confirm your pin number or request any financial or personal information from you.
