Fraud is everywhere because of the internet, invading every desktop and finding its way into every part-time-job search. Small-time criminals now prey on anyone who is looking for a way to make money, under the guise of employment or small business. All of their offers and programs are designed to get money away from you, and some of them are fairly sophisticated and difficult to recognize. But they are all “cons” that will leave you disgruntled with all your wasted effort , or they will partially or completely ruin you financially.

Step 1
Watch carefully for (or completely avoid) any email solicitation that suggests any kind of financial benefit. There is little to ever gain from unsolicited email, so simply deleting any email you don’t recognize or setting up strict filters are the best things to do. If it comes in via your inbox, it is already suspect. Never give out any sensitive data or agree to anything regarding personal, business or financial information.

Step2
Protect your credit card, Social Security number, bank account and driver’s license information. As soon as anyone requests any of this information, you are taking a huge risk to even consider complying. Since, in our current society, we have grown accustomed to applying for remote credit cards and investment accounts by providing personal information online, the swindlers position themselves as employers when they ask for this information. Americans should be more guarded about giving up personal information, but the U.S. Government has facilitated unconstitutional and unfair invasion of privacy that employers leverage as control over prospective employees. Often companies will complete the entire hiring process online and without ever meeting you. But you should never give out your information until you have checked out the other party thoroughly, whether it is a legitimate employer or a criminal suspect.

Step3
Maintain a log of communications that you can easily refer to at any time. You will be surprised how quickly you will forget what was written (or said, if you speak by telephone, which is not uncommon). Having the progression of events and communications readily available can help you make the right decision when your future is on the line. If there are ever legal implications, this information will be critical.

Step4
Note the domain extension in the other party's emails. If it is one of the free email services and not a company domain, he is probably not legitimate, especially if he is claiming to be an officer of a bank.

Step5
Look for a physical address and other evidence of legitimacy. If a cell phone number is all you can get, you should immediately forget about this particular "business". Never trust a website as being anything more than a shallow façade.

Step6
Pay close attention to the correspondent's English. If he doesn’t write and speak using proper English, the chances are very strong that you are being scammed.

Step7
Determine the origin of the communications. Basically, anywhere in Africa, especially South Africa, is a scam. Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria are a sure bet as well.

Step8
Watch closely for the kill (i.e., the close). When he has set you up properly, the other party will ask for something that feels uncomfortable. Normally, he will want to transfer a small amount of funds, as little as $1, back and forth between accounts. It seems harmless enough, but the exact same steps are used to transfer large amounts. Give it up before it becomes tempting.

Step9
Never even discuss anything of this nature with anyone if you are a credit card merchant. There is no room for error for a credit card merchant, and whether or not you are the victim is of no concern to the merchant bank.

Step10
Refuse any arrangement in which you are to be running money through your account, keeping a percentage of it as a commission and sending the rest off to some remote bank account, or wiring money to an individual in another country. This arrangement indicates that you will be laundering money, and eventually you will be held responsible for all of it.

Step11
Look for a physical address and other evidence of legitimacy. If a cell phone number is all you can get, you should immediately forget about them. Never trust a website as being anything more than a shallow façade.

May 6 2008 12:30PM
Maarten Mittner

Internet banking fraudsters have a new ploy that could catch bank clients off-guard.

Absa clients have been receiving e-mails requesting them to provide their banking details. A previous ploy was to request clients to provide information to protect them from internet scams.

The new scam says that Absa is "happy" to announce that all online banking services have been "successfully upgraded" in 2008 in order to provide a "safer" service to "valued" clients.

The catch is that clients are asked to verify their complete banking details in order to use the new and safer service. According to the message it is essential for all clients to undergo the verification process as their accounts will be closed if they do not comply.

The message uses the well-known Absa logo and looks realistic.

An Absa spokesperson has emphasised that the bank never issues clients requests via e-mail especially not for banking details to be provided or updated.

Despite repeated warnings by the bank there are still clients who are not cautious when it comes to banking. Online scams known as "phishing" happen when fraudsters gain access to a bank account when the "Update Online Banking" facility is used.

According to the spokesperson the new ploy surfaced recently. Comprehensive warnings not to respond to the e-mail do appear on the Absa website.

Even though the Absa website looks official, clients are able to notice that it's a scam because the website looks different when you click on "Update Online Banking" icon.

Be very wary of a website address that is long and contains the @ sign.

Absa acknowledges that the fake messages can look very authentic. This includes the methods that are used to verify transactions, as well as information about the group's privacy policy that corresponds with the necessary requirements for internet banking. Clients can thus easily be fooled into thinking that the scam is legitimate.

Absa requests that clients change their log-on details, such as their PIN (personal identification number) and password as soon as they receive a suspicious message. For more information contact Absa's toll-free service at 08600 08600.

Accounts need to be constantly monitored in order to spot suspicious events.

Jun 19 2008

Consumers are losing millions of rand every year as credit card fraud skyrocketed in South Africa over the past three years, the SA Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) said on Thursday.

Head of Sabric's Commercial Crime branch, Susan Potgieter, was speaking at a media briefing in Durban.

She said annual comparisons had revealed a drastic increase as criminals had been "tricking weak consumers".

In the 2005/2006 financial year, she said, the crime had gone up by 46%.

This had increased in the 2006/2007 financial year to 97%. From last year up until present, it had gone up by another 57%.

Potgieter said it the first five months of this year, statistics showed the crime was most prevalent in Gauteng.

"Gauteng was at 46.7%, the Western Cape was at 19% and KwaZulu-Natal was at 17,2%," she said.

She said the trend had changed since last year.

"Groceries stores were the most targeted last year and this year it's liquor stores that are at the top of the list."

Captain Louis Helberg of the Commercial Crime Unit in Durban said fraudsters are importing credit card skimming devices - ordered online - from China to defraud scores of South Africans.

The black device - which is about the size of cigarette lighter - copies data from the magnetic strip on the back of bank cards and each device can be used to copy about 2 000 cards.

"It's an offence just to be in possession of this device and therefore we want people to be aware of it," he said.

Potgieter said one can spend up to about five years in prison for just possessing the device.

Helberg said they continued to make arrests but said the crime still grew.

The latest arrest was made last week at Mount Edgecombe.

Potgieter said: "The crime has evolved over the years and criminals are relying on consumer weakness and that's why we want to educate people using cards.

"People must be smart and alert at all times so criminals can stop abusing the commercial space."

May 19 2008

"Contactless" payments made via cellphones pose the greatest future threat to the security of consumers' financial details, a leading security expert says.

Around 52m consumers will adopt new mobile technologies to pay for everyday goods and services by 2011, according to a recent study by analysts at Juniper Research.

It expects mobile payments to hit £5.9bn (R92bn) in the next three years, as phones become an increasingly viable alternative to cash, credit and debit cards.

But Greg Day, an analyst at security specialist McAfee, believes the technology will yield immense opportunity for data fraudsters.

"It makes me quite nervous. It's to this type of contactless small payments arena that smart data criminals will turn: if they just take a fiver from everyone, rather than larger sums from fewer people, they'll still make a fortune.

"Little and often, instead of one big heist, will be their mantra."

Day believes that "tap and go" mobile phone payments - many of which will use short range, wireless technology called "near field communication" (NFC) to transmit data from the customer's mobile phone to the retailer's card reader - will go further to revolutionise the way people make day-to-day debit transactions.

Despite that, the majority of cellphones have no security software on them.

At least 79% of consumers are knowingly using unprotected cellphone phone handsets, while 15% are unsure of security levels, according to a recent poll of 2 000 cellphone users in the UK, US and Japan.

The research, undertaken by Datamonitor and McAfee, and unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, also showed that 86% of users are worried about security risks posed to their cellphone handset, such as fraudulent bills, or information loss or theft.

"The cellphone space is fraudsters' biggest opportunity for the future, largely because many people still see their phone as a communication device, rather than something that they have to keep secure," adds Day.

Britain's Orange is one of 12 global mobile phone operators currently running trials of contactless mobile payment services as a precursor to commercial launches.

The trials -- in Australia, France, Ireland, South Korea, Malaysia, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and the US - are part of the GSM Association's "pay-buy-mobile" initiative, designed to provide a single global approach to mobile contactless payments.

The trade association represents 700 cellphone operators in around 220 countries.

May 20 2008

Toyota Motor Corporation on Tuesday warned the public against fraudulent text messages informing recipients that they had won a Toyota vehicle.

The message instructs "winners" to deposit money for the delivery costs of the vehicle into a bank account.

"The message is sent under the name of Toyota Kenya and is in no way associated with Toyota SA. The Toyota Motor Corporation and its affiliated companies have no involvement with this competition."

May 27 2008

Yahoo said it has filed a complaint in the US district court in New York against "Yahoo Lottery Spammers" who use the company's name to fool users into divulging personal information that are then used in identity scams.

"This type of lottery scam is a hoax designed to trick unsuspecting e-mail users into revealing valuable data like passwords, credit-card information and Social Security numbers," Yahoo said in a statement.

Yahoo Mail is one of the most popular internet e-mail services. The company says the service is used by more than 260m people worldwide, citing data from comScore Media Metrix.

Yahoo said it blocks more than 1bn spam and fraudulent e-mails a day.