Imagine your phone buzzes on a random Tuesday morning and it's a message from what looks like your bank. The message states there's been some suspicious activity on your account and you need to verify your details immediately else, your account will be frozen. Your heart jumps and you immediately click the link provided. And just like that, someone somewhere has all your important information.
This isn't a hypothetical horror story, but something that has happened and is still happening to many people every single day. Irrespective of whether a person is smart, educated or very careful, that slight moment of panic or emotional connection is what scammers count on.
What Do Scams Look Like?
The internet currently is not the same as it was a decade ago.
Back then, many people could spot a scam from a mile away because there were usually obvious red flags. Those scammers still exist today, but they've just graduated to better approaches.
Today's scammers can use artificial intelligence to create flawless emails, clone voices using audio deep fakes to impersonate people, build fake websites and some even go as far as infiltrating your social media. Scamming to some people is a full time job.
Almost everyone has been targeted but not everyone falls for it.
Recently, I came across a video on one of my social media platforms where a user was warning the masses about a new pattern scammers use to basically hack a person's device and gain access to important information. The person mentioned that these people use strange numbers to send a video or an image to you. Naturally, you'd want to download to see what the image contains and once you've downloaded this image, your device is hijacked. The people who fall victims to these are those whose apps are set to automatically download images or those quick to download images.
Just like clockwork, about three strange numbers texted me just last week and all of them had either a video or picture for me to download without even a formal introduction of themselves. After doing my necessary research to ensure these weren't acquaintances, I blocked these numbers. But the question is, what if I didn't see the warning earlier? Or what if I just wanted to see the content of the video?
If you ask me which scam type is the most dangerous today, I'd say two are battling for the top spot:
AI-Powered Phishing
These are emails, texts and messages that are personalised using data gotten from your social media or public records. Things like your full government name, your bank and sometimes your home location. These scammers can capitalise on this information and gain access to more intricate details which can be used to extort money from you directly or indirectly.
Romance Scams
These ones destroy people financially and emotionally. Here, a scammer creates a fake persona, builds a genuine relationship with you over weeks or months, earns your trust and then either requests money for one important gig or something else. Some scammers start small and then increase their requests while others “hit it big” the first time. Then one day, the persona vanishes alongside all the money you "lent" them.
The damage from scams is not just financial. People lose their sense of reality or their trust in human connection. They can easily slip into depression or even worse.
How Can One Actually Stay Safe?
General advice like "be careful online" is useless most times. However, certain other precautions can be taken.
First, urgency is a red flag not a call to action. Once a message says "act immediately", " Your account will be blocked" or "urgent response required", I slow down and actually reassess the entire situation. If need be, I reach out to people and also do intensive research.
I also verify through separate channels. If I get a message from my bank, I don't click the link instead, I check my bank app and proceed from there.
Another thing that saves a lot of people is the two factor authentication (2FA). It takes nothing to turn on this setting in many applications we use regularly or preferably use authentication apps.
One other thing that saves people from being targeted by scammers is the things they post on their social media. People should be extremely courteous of what they share publicly because these little details can just be the only thing these scammers need.
The truth is, scams work partly because people are embarrassed to admit they almost fell for one or they indeed fell for one. Talking about it with family, friends and even finding a way to sensitize the masses goes a long way. Online scammers are consistently improving their means of exploitation and it's our sole duty not to be caught off guard.
So, next time your phone buzzes with a message that feels off, trust your gut feeling.
This post is written in response to the #iucontest which can be found here
