The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has warned of a scam targeting home computer users.
The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has warned of a scam targeting home computer users.
"Users receive what seem like legitimate telephonic calls from reputable computer software service providers advising victims that their system is faulty or compromised, and requires urgent remedial action," the Centre said in a statement this week.
"The victims are then tricked by the perpetrators during these telephone calls into divulging their personal information and to unwittingly install or accept malware on their computers."
"Once installed, this malware will enable the perpetrators to access the unsuspecting victim’s personal information, such as banking log-on details, which can be used to steal money from the victim’s account."
The Centre (Sabric) says identity theft scams are a growing threat. The latest versions of these scams are convincing calls to action, carefully designed to trick people into revealing personal information which could be used to commit fraud and theft.
Susan Potgieter, Sabric General Manager: Commercial Crime, said, “The public should familiarise themselves with these scams in order to prevent falling victim. Any unsolicited approaches should be treated with caution irrespective of the plausibility of the explanation provided you, especially where you are asked to accept or install software on your computer or cellphone."
"Criminals always think of clever ways to sell bank customers believable stories in order to trick them into compromising their banking details”.
Sabric is a not-for-profit company formed by South African banks to support the banking industry in the combating of crime. Its clients are South African banks and major CIT companies. For more on Sabric visit www.sabric.co.za.
