South Africa is battling a relentless and rapidly evolving criminal threat: scamming. Far from being a niche problem, this sophisticated crime has metastasised into an epidemic, inflicting financial devastation on citizens and businesses alike....
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How to avoid rental scams
Growing demand for rental properties – combined with limited availability – has made South Africa’s housing market a fertile hunting ground for fraudsters. Rental scams are on the rise, as prospective tenants scramble for accommodation. Rising...
Criminals using AI to target retirees
Criminals are now using AI to create sophisticated phishing emails, build hacking tools and uncover weaknesses in IT systems. While the world marvelled last year at the ease with which artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT completed tasks for...
Investment opportunities punted via social media are scams
Reputable and regulated financial services providers will never sell investments via a WhatsApp group, Telegram, a social media platform, email, or an unsolicited random phone call, so you can be sure that investment opportunities punted via social...
TikTok: a cesspool of financial scams
While there is certainly good financial education content to be found on social media, there are also numerous scams and unethical practices, and TikTok is no exception. In fact, the massive increase in TikTok’s popularity has seen a massive...
Stay away from too-good-to-be-true promises!
MMM Krypto and Tumi Links are two of the latest scams doing the rounds online. Every week I receive an update from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) warning about scams. Unfortunately, when people are caught out, there is nothing our...
Don’t fall victim to a delivery scam this festive season
A delivery scam usually takes the form of an email that pops up in your inbox telling you that you have a parcel waiting for you, and that you should click on the provided link for further details on the necessary steps to get your parcel...
Yima: a website to track scams
As technology improves, including artificial intelligence (AI), it is becoming easier for criminal syndicates to hoodwink people. Enter Yima, a tool to try and help stem the tide. At a fraud summit recently held by the Southern African Fraud...
Property scams to watch out for
Jackie Smith, Head of Buyers Trust, warns that prospective tenants and home-buyers are becoming the targets of increasingly sophisticated property scams. Over the past two decades, internet sites such as Property24, Facebook Marketplace and estate...
Social media investment scams: don’t get caught out
Recently, fraudsters impersonated my social media profile. They used a slightly different spelling of my handle and copied my social media page, making it identical to my legitimate page. The only way you could tell the difference is that the fake...
Previous Articles
Scamsters are out in full force
There's been a concerning increase recently in the number of scamsters targeting South African consumers. This includes scamsters pretending to be representatives of your bank or your cellphone provider. There are SMS and email scams claiming your crypto wallet will...
Delivery scams on the rise
Cybersecurity researchers are urging consumers to be on the lookout for delivery scams following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and in the lead-up to the holidays. This comes after Mimecast’s threat-hunting team detected malicious emails and spoofed web pages...
Beware: fraudsters are everywhere
Ramesh Ramdeen, Head of Fraud at FNB Wealth and Investments and Ashburton Investments outlines some key things to look out for to avoid becoming the victim of fraudsters. Investment and financial fraud is on the rise across the world. Each day thousands of people are...
Listen: Investigating crypto scams
In this My Money, My Lifestyle podcast we delve into the world of crypto scams which seem to be mushrooming everywhere, despite repeated warnings from our authorities. How do these crypto scams work? How do people get lured into parting with their hard-earned cash?...
Protect your loved ones from scams
Some of your relatives and loved ones may be getting on in years and may not be as careful with their finances and cards as they were before. Angelique Ruzicka has some suggestions for things you can do to help protect them from scams. Sadly, there are many scams...
Don’t fall for a WhatsApp get-rich-quick scam
The WhatsApp stokvel scheme that has been around for a while has now morphed into a “WhatsApp gifting circle”, but it is the same get-rich-quick scam, just under a different label – and just as dangerous and illegal. People are recruited to join a WhatsApp stokvel or...
Protect yourself from cyber criminals
Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the anxiety around lockdown. Manie van Schalkwyk, Executive Director of the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) provides some insight into what scams to watch out for. The world is currently a very scary place....
Beware of coronavirus scams
According to SABRIC, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, there’s been a sharp rise in cases of cybercriminals exploiting the spread of COVID-19 by using coronavirus-based scams to trick people into clicking on links in emails or SMSs appearing to offer...
New FSCA investigator gets tough with scamsters
New regulatory powers make it easier to investigate financial fraud. The new director of investigations and enforcement at the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), Brandon Topham, made it clear in a media briefing recently that he will be taking a tough stance...
How to protect yourself from loan scams
By Gareth Mountain, Head of Sales at Lending and Innovation Company Olico The current economic situation we’re experiencing in South Africa has created a strong appetite for credit. Often consumers need to borrow money out of desperation just to help them survive. It...