Online scams designed to financially harm users continue to rise, employing increasingly sophisticated social engineering techniques. One of the keys to preventing them is learning to recognize the most common warning signs of potential fraud.
Digital fraud (deceptive activities carried out online or through digital devices to improperly access sensitive information of individuals and companies and harm them financially) is commonplace and has become one of the main threats to users of financial services, according to cybersecurity experts.
In recent years, cybercriminals have sophisticated their methods. Among the most widespread practices is ‘smishing,’ a technique that uses fraudulent text messages to impersonate trusted entities in order to trick users into providing sensitive information, such as passwords or bank details.
‘Smishing’ is a variant of ‘phishing’, a technique in which the cybercriminal sends an email instead of an SMS, but with the same purpose: to impersonate a legitimate entity (social network, bank, public institution, financial entity) in order to steal private information, make a financial charge or ask the deceived users to send him money.
Pedro Chicau, head of Fraud at Oney (www.oney.es), a financial institution specializing in payment solutions and consumer credit, warns of the danger of these attacks, noting that “these messages are part of a strategy that combines a sense of urgency with identity theft.”
Chicau warns that “furthermore, fraud is evolving towards increasingly personalized tactics, based on interpreting and taking advantage of the needs, concerns and even the emotional intelligence of the potential victim.”
“By mimicking legitimate communications and fostering emotions such as fear, haste, or trust in the user, cybercriminals manage to lower that person’s guard and make them provide confidential data, allowing attackers to access their accounts or make unauthorized charges, thus compromising their financial and digital security,” he emphasizes.
To address this threat, Oney is promoting the “Hacker Busters” initiative (https://online.oney.es/prevencion-fraude-digital-ciberseguridad) focused on offering educational content, real-life examples, and practical advice to explain to internet users and consumers how cybercriminals operate and help them recognize potential fraud attempts and act in suspicious situations.
Although fraud methods are constantly evolving, many scams share recognizable signs that allow users to detect them before providing their personal or banking information, so learning to recognize them is a fundamental prevention tool, this entity points out.
The team of fraud specialists at Oney Spain describes to EFE some of the telltale signs that can help to uncover the most common frauds in time.
One. Urgency and alarmism.
“Messages with an urgent and alarmist tone seek to provoke an immediate reaction from the user through psychological pressure. Expressions such as ‘final warning’, ‘account blocked’ or ‘immediate sanction’ are common in this type of fraud,” according to Oney specialists.
Two. Applications through different channels.
“Fraudulent communications often include requests for personal or banking information via SMS, emails, or external links. Extreme caution should be exercised when faced with such requests, as official bodies and financial institutions do not ask for sensitive information through these channels,” they warn.
Three. Simulated customer area.
Typically, the links used in different types of fraud have the same “modus operandi”: they simulate the customer area and, through the following screens, obtain customer data to later call and make purchases in online stores, according to cybersecurity experts.
Cybercriminals also seek to enroll the user’s card in XPay (a payment platform or gateway designed to make and receive electronic transactions) to make withdrawals or purchases through tokenized payment (a security system that replaces sensitive card data with a unique and unrepeatable alphanumeric code called a ‘token’).
Cyber fraudsters who use this “modus operandi” generally take the following steps:
1. They request the credentials (ID + password).
2. They ask if the customer has the card.
3. They ask for your phone number.
4. They ask for the complete card number.
Four. Faults and inconsistencies.
Many fraudulent messages contain spelling errors or inconsistencies, as they are poor translations; they present incoherences, such as claiming to come from an official body, but at the same time using a tone that is not in keeping with the position or identity of the sender, or they include links that apparently do not match a trusted source, according to specialists.
Five. Unexpected problems.
Another warning sign of digital fraud is “unexpected communications about alleged problems with accounts or payments, which usually consist of notices of account blocking or unauthorized charges, trying to create a sense of urgency in the user and lead them to take action,” they warn.
Six. Impersonated senders.
Unknown or unverified senders, who attempt to impersonate an official entity or organization using addresses, domains, or names similar to legitimate ones, are another indication of an attempted internet fraud, they explain.
Seven. Impersonalized messages.
“Impersonal or impersonal messages, in which the user’s name, surname, or other identifying information does not appear, are a common sign of fraudulent mass mailings,” according to Oney specialists.
Eight. Tempting links.
“Another common indicator of digital fraud is messages that appeal to supposed immediate economic benefits, such as prizes or refunds, which is a frequent strategy to induce the user to click on malicious links,” conclude the experts from this financial entity, who participate in the cybersecurity training initiative ‘Hacker Busters’.
Daniel Galilea.
EFE – Reports
