Scammers target the elderly

GEORGE NEWS - More than 400 people have become the victims of commercial crime during the last six months, all of which is just within the George policing area.

More worrying is that these scammers have become more innovative with their scams and skilled professionals are turning scamming into a career.

In George, sadly, most of the victims are our elderly citizens - the soft targets.

Commercial crimes can be categorised as something as simple as bank fraud and scams to more complex tax schemes and intricate cybercrimes.

Your bank won't phone you

Convincing scammers continue to catch people off-guard as they sound legitimate when dealing with potential victims. Community members, especially the elderly, should be extra vigilant when dealing with unknown phone calls, calls from their banks about fraud or suspicious phone calls.

Amidst the daily hustle, a rising number of people find themselves engaged in cellphone conversations, firmly believing they are interacting with a representative from their bank's fraud division.

However, the truth is far from reassuring. Unbeknownst to the unsuspecting victim, the caller is a scammer and they want their victim's personal details and a one-time-pin (OTP) that is sent to their victim's phone via SMS.

"Your bank will never ever phone you to warn you about suspected fraudulent activity on your account," says Warrant Officer Karin Naudé.

"When someone phones you, pretending to be from your bank with a warning about a fraudulent transaction, don't panic. Don't entertain any conversation, simply put down the phone and call your bank directly by using the number on your bank card or go to your nearest branch. If you continue with the call you will be asked to log into your banking app and receive an OTP or be asked to reject or accept the transaction on your banking app.

"Never provide any personal or banking information over the phone. Once they have your card details and OTP they can buy whatever they want on the internet. To trace people like that is, is nearly impossible. Their RICA details are false, their identities are false or stolen and they have many sim cards," says Naudé.

Naudé also warned against strange SMSs.

"Don't click on any strange links sent to you by 'a bank' via SMS. When you receive an SMS like this, phone your bank directly and confirm what the situation is," says Naudé.

Syndicates

Most of these scammers operate as part of a syndicate and it very seldom happens that they operate on their own. According to Naudé and fellow officer, Willie Kuhn, most of these syndicates are believed to be run by Nigerians. Many times when money is paid over to an account, the money is moved quickly to other accounts, which is an indication that they are all part of the same syndicate.

Unfortunately these bank accounts are mostly fraudulent as stolen IDs are used to open the bank accounts. They use innocent people to move their money around.

Big amounts and businesses

A business will send an invoice to a client via email. This email is intercepted and then the victim gets another email saying the banking details have changed. Many times these emails are accompanied by a fraudulent bank confirmation. One woman in George recently lost nearly R500 000 in this manner.

False proof of payments

Scammers show a fraudulent proof of payment for a big order they made from a business the previous day. The victim accepts the proof of payment without checking that the payment reflects in their bank account and the scammer leaves with the goods.

"Many times they show the proof of payment to an employee of the business. These scammers also don't pick up or handle the goods himself. They normally get someone off the street to transport the goods. Then it gets transported to other people. They don't get their hands dirty and its hard to get to the kingpin," said Kuhn.

George Station Commander Brig Nolan Michaels, WO Willie Kuhn and WO Karin Naudé discussing ways to create awareness surrounding the increase in scams in George. Photo: Kristy Kolberg

Work from home scams

Kuhn warns that many of the people advertising opportunities to 'work from home' on Facebook, are scammers.

"They get people to buy into the idea. They give you a task to complete and pay you to lure you. Eventually the victim keeps on paying and the scammer disappears.

Don't be gullible - tips on not to become a victim

Don't make payments without viewing the product, pet or item that you want to buy. If you can't travel to view it yourself, find someone you know to view the item and confirm that it exists and that the sale is legit.
If it looks or sounds to good to be true, it most probably is - there is no such thing as a quick buck.
Don't trust investment or loaning schemes that are not from a legit financial institution
Never respond to emails or cell phone messages appearing to be from your bank, which request your personal details. No bank will ever ask you to confirm or update your account details by email or phone.
Never provide your online ID, password or PIN to anyone and never write it down or share them.
Do not save your internet banking password on your desktop.
Always log off or sign off at the end of a session.
Avoid doing internet banking in public areas such as internet cafés, or on any computer that can be accessed by people you do not know.

Phone the number on the back of your card to speak to your bank in case of any suspected fraudulent activity on your account.