As the use of smartphones become more popular in our country - thanks to the efforts of companies like Techno and RLG, which assemble them locally - and the number of social media users in Ghana increases, so does the number of victims of online fraudsters.
An excellent article, by Rosie Murray-West, which appeared in today's edition of the online version of the UK newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, gives smartphone users useful tips on how to avoid being victimised by online fraudsters.
I am reproducing her culled article, in today's blog, in the hope that it will save some Ghanaian smartphone and social media users, from ending up as victims of Ghana's many online fraudsters - who, sadly, have turned our nation into a global power in online fraud.
Unfortunately, many Ghanaians are in denial about it - and don't want to believe that Ghana is actually now one of the world's superpowers in online fraud: known locally as Saakawa. Rosie Murray-West's article is entitled, "Smartphone and social media users: beware a new type of fraudster". Please read on:
"Smartphone and social media users: beware a new type of fraudster
New technology such as iPhones means there are new ways of swindling you.
By Rosie Murray-West
1:04PM GMT 27 Dec 2011
This will be the year of the hi-tech fraudster, experts have said, and households are warned to be on their guard against new tricks aimed at parting them with their cash. "When times are tough, fraud increases," warns the anti-fraud group Cifas. "Individuals in desperate straits sometimes turn to desperate measures in order to make ends meet."
Cifas says that targets will include Government services, as more and more are delivered online, and ATMs. The Olympics are also likely to be a focus for scams, so sports fans should be wary. Here are some fraud trends to look out for in 2012, and tips on how to avoid them.
Facebook fraud
With more of us using Facebook, Twitter and other networking media, fraudsters are using "social engineering" to extort money. Once a virus infects a user's computer, it will, when they next visit a site such as Facebook, raid the user's "friends" list. The virus then sends an email to each friend asking them to click on a link to view a photo or video. The friends trust the name of the sender, click on the link, and in doing so their computer becomes infected.
"[The emails] might look like they come from a friend," Neil Fisher, head of global security systems at Unisys, says. "But click on them and they contain a hidden 'package'. This could contain keystroke-logging software that will find your passwords and other details.
Alternatively, you may end up with a man-in-the-browser virus. When a user logs on to specific online banking sites, the virus, or Trojan, is activated and intercepts banking data.
What can you do to stop it?
Make sure your Facebook is ''locked down'', and do not allow random people to view your list of friends or other personal details, even if these seem fairly innocuous to you. Remember that information such as your birthday could be valuable to a fraudster – your date of birth, for example, is a routine security question.
Do not click on strange attachments in your email – even if they purport to come from friends. If the text of the email sounds wrong in tone for a friend of yours, then think before you click.
iPads and Smartphones
Many people will have got shiny new media items for Christmas, including iPads and smartphones. For those who are new to the world of mobile internet browsing and apps, the devices could represent a gateway for attacks.
Neil Fisher warns about text message scams and "too good to be true" apps. People with Android phones have been particularly vulnerable to this in recent weeks. The Android Market store, operated by Google, had a number of seemingly legitimate ''free'' versions of premium titles. However, the downloads contained malware that sent premium-rate text messages to users. The apps were downloaded more than 10,000 times.
What can you do about it?
Check any apps you download onto new devices carefully for legitimacy and check your mobile phone bill regularly
Don't respond to texts that are not from people you know.
Card not present fraud
With more and more of us shopping online, so-called ''card not present'' fraud is a big risk. You'll realise that you've been a victim of this type of fraud either when you receive a huge credit card bill, or large debit card purchases that you don't recognise push you into overdraft.
This type of fraud can be perpetrated over the internet, by mail or on the phone – and in the majority of cases all the fraudster needs is your card number and sometimes the three digits on the back.
The number of people affected by this type of fraud is falling, but it is important to be on your guard. Martin Warwick, fraud expert at analytics provider Fico, says that Verified by Visa and Mastercard Securecode – whereby customers enter a password when shopping online – are meant to protect consumers. However, he added that these systems were "static rather than dynamic", meaning that fraudsters could easily gain access to them.
What can you do to stop it?
Keep your card data safe and do not give out Pin numbers on the phone. Legitimate inquiries from your bank will not ask you for your entire Pin – only for selected digits.
Make sure your secure codes are truly secure: don't give them out, and make them as complex as possible.
ATM issues
Martin Warwick points out that the increase in security online means that traditional methods of illegally obtaining money, for example from customers at cashpoints, are on the rise.
The ''Lebanese loop'', for instance, is a scam which makes it appear as if your card has been swallowed, but the fraudster will be able to retrieve it later. He or she will have been standing behind you, watching as you enter your Pin number. They will then retrieve your card using the "loop", and start using it themselves.
What can you do about it?
Make sure no one can see you typing in your Pin, and do not interact with seemingly well-meaning Good Samaritans who offer to help you if your card does get swallowed.
Look at the machine carefully before you use it – if you see anything that looks odd, do not use it.
Money mule cons
Money mule cons begin with a job being advertised, often involving "working from home". Once recruited, "money mules" receive cash into their bank accounts which will have been stolen from another compromised account. The mule is then asked to wire these funds overseas (minus a commission payment). In reality, this is money laundering. This process may continue smoothly for some time, until your bank account becomes compromised because you have clicked on infected emails from the fraudsters. Your bank account might then be emptied.
When the money laundering is discovered by police, often the ''mule'' is the only identifiable link in the chain, and you might face prosecution, with your bank account frozen.
Other versions of this include the often badly spelt emails from foreign ''dignitaries'' who ask you to send or receive money from them in exchange for a fee.
What can you do about it?
Do not respond to attractive-looking ''Work from home'' opportunities unless you are sure they are legitimate.
Read emails carefully and do not offer to use your account to send and receive money for other people.
Olympic cons
The Olympics will be a particular target for fraudsters, experts have warned. While there will be attempts to hack the main Olympic ticketing systems, they are unlikely to be successful, so watch out instead for activity around the edges. Neil Fisher at Unisys warns that ''packages'' offering tickets plus extras will be a particular focus for fraud.
What can you do about it?
Make sure that you are particularly careful with all Olympics-based transactions and check that the people you buy from are listed as legitimate."
End of culled Daily Telegraph article written by Rosie Murray-West.
Well, dear reader, I do hope that someone somewhere in Ghana, will learn something positive that will help protect them, when they venture online with their mobile device, after reading the Daily Telegraph's Rosie Murray-West's very useful article about fraud. Not being tech-savvy myself, I find such articles immensely useful.
To the many who interact with me daily by email, let me say that I am a rather-starve-than-beg type of person, so if any of you ever receives a begging email, or Facebook message that purports to be from me, appealing for financial help to save me from some calamity that has befallen me, please ignore it. I am a firm believer in the tough-love doctrine of friendship and parenting - and begging others simply isn't written into my DNA.
In any case, a phone call to my Tigo mobile number (+ 233 (0) 27 745 3109) will always quickly establish the fact that one isn't stranded in some distant and obscure corner of the planet Earth - having given up the globe-trotting of my youthful days, years ago.
A phone call to me, will also establish the fact that one is most definitely not in dire need of cash, either - having learnt to live a more or less cashless existence for decades now: after mastering the art and science of meeting most of one's basic material needs, by leveraging the green barter-economy (and long before it became fashionable, incidentally).
I shall end today's blog posting, by wishing all who read my ghanapolitics blog, a Happy New Year. One hopes that the year 2012 will bring peace to all nations in desperate need of it - and may the new year also see many more oppressed people around the world throwing off the shackles of tyranny: by overthrowing their cruel and brutish tyrants!
Tel (Powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
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