The digitisation of payments means that in addition to the ease and convenience of online banking comes the need for extra security. In this post, we share some of the common and prevalent types of internet frauds that you should be wary of whenever you are online.
Identity theft
Identity theft involves criminals stealing money by pretending to be someone else. It occurs in various ways such as using someone’s card details illegally to make purchases or assuming someone else’s identity to open bank accounts, take out loans and conduct illegal business.
Warning signs of identity theft schemes include but are not limited to:
- Getting an email, SMS or a phone call asking you to ‘validate’ or ‘confirm’ banking details.
- Amounts of money go missing from your bank account without any explanations.
- Inability to obtain loans because of a mysterious bad credit.
Advance fee fraud
In an advance-fee fraud, the victim is convinced through some well made-up story to give money to a stranger in return for a much larger sum of money but the money is never paid back. The perpetrator sends out an unsolicited message via email or social media to a large group of people telling them about a business proposition, request for assistance, notice of a potential inheritance, or opportunity to help a charity.
Protect yourself by not providing funds or personal information to strangers.
Credit card fraud
Credit card fraud involves stealing another person’s credit card information for the purpose of charging purchases to the account or removing money from it. Your information can be stolen via phishing, skimming, stealing your credit card, hacking your computer or obtaining the receipt of a transaction you made with your credit card. Protect vital information such as: your home address, complete bank account number, your company’s address and your salary.
If your card is missing or stolen, please report to the nearest Stanbic IBTC Bank branch or call 0700CALLSTANBIC or (234) 01-2709676.
General tips for avoiding Internet fraud:
- Whenever you are about to buy an item online, learn as much as possible about the seller by reading feedback written by previous customers.
- Do not trust websites just because it claims to be secure. You can determine if a webpage is secure by checking if the page’s URL has ‘https’ (notice the s) and a lock icon.
- Read your monthly bank account Statements.
- Do not reply to messages asking for your personal or financial information.
- Do not send money to someone you do not know.
Do you know of other preventive measures against internet fraud? Share with a comment below or reach out to us with any feedback on Twitter: @StanbicIBTC or Facebook: fb.com/StanbicIBTC
