NEVER ENOUGH MONEY!!
Majority of people would say that a little bit more money could be very useful, maybe for a nice holiday or a new car. This is just the way people are. Money makes the world go round!
Scamming is an “Art” of convincing people to hand over their money to the scammer. Scammers use various techniques, including “GREED” to pray on people, they know that you need more money so they create a certain action (E-Mail or SMS) where they ask you to do something for them. For example, in the majority of scams the scammer will ask the user to click on a link that they provide. This link will redirect you to their page which is a fake page of the original.
GENERAL INDICATIONS OF A SCAM IS:
- When you receive communications from an individual (a stranger) offering you something that you need or want.
- When they ask for your banking or personal information.
- When they claim they have lots of money, or ties to huge financial funds. They will even provide you with authentic looking fraudulent documents (bank letter) including logos.
- When they ask you to travel.
- When you are asked to pay certain fees for taxes, attorney fees, transaction fees or bribes. Payment is then done using Western Union Transfer, or even Bitcoins.
WHAT IS PHISHING?
A phishing attack is where the attacker create a fake internet banking page, or a fake Facebook login page. This page will then be hosted somewhere on the internet. The link to this page is then send to the victim. When the victim open the email they will be greeted with a story where they explain that you could earn a lot of money very quickly. Or that you have won a lot of money (The UK Lotto for example).
The Victim then click on the link and is then taken the a fake page (of a bank for example). The victim then enters their banking details into this page, after this an error is displayed and the user is re-directed to the main bank web-page where they then login and notice that money has not been received.
The attacker will then use the victims login credentials to logon to the correct bank website. Here they will then attempt to create a beneficiary to transfer the money out of your account.
Example of a SARS Phishing attack:


These logos will include a link to their fake bank page, once you then login to their fake page they capture your online credentials.
WHAT KIND OF SCAM’S DO YOU GET?
Facebook scam (Like Farming)
Scammers copy your details that you have entered into your profile, they will then create a separate profile with similar details. They will then make contact with your friends and tell them, for example, something happened to you and that you need money urgently. Your friend want to help you by providing money, they transfer the money only to find out later that you never asked for the money. Read More
Internet Banking scam: You receive an E-mail from your bank stating that “Bank” has detected a calculation fault on your monthly fees that you have paid to the bank over the last couple of years. As a result of this the “BANK” would like to refund your a amount of R19 232.98. The scammer will then provide you with a link to their fake bank website and ask you to login to your bank and confirm your details. This is where they will ask you for your personal details.
Attachment (Pdf, Docx, XLS) in your E-mail: The attacker/scammer would like to gain access to your personal computer. In this attack they require you to open a file (PDF ) that contain the letter that has been send. This PDF contain malicious code that will exploit your local adobe/foxit reader. Once this has been completed the attacker will have complete control over your personal computer.
Advance-fee scams:The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster requires in order to obtain the large sum. If a victim makes the payment, the fraudster either invents a series of further fees for the victim, or simply disappears. There are many variations on this type of scam, including the 419 scam, the Spanish Prisoner scam, the black money scam, Fifo’s Fraud and the Detroit-Buffalo scam. The scam has been used with fax and traditional mail, and is now prevalent in online communications like emails.
Sakawa scammers: These scammers from Ghana recon that it is their right to scam people purely because of the colonial fathers that milked Africa and this is their payback. Sakawa scamming
The scammer will copy information from a real internet dating site, paste this then into social networking sites to build a relationship with the victim. As the relationship is build the scammer will introduce himself as a very rich person or dealing with gold…. they will then start to make demands. As a reward for this demand they will offer you a portion of their fake money. You will then be required to perform another action whereby you need to pay a certain fee over to them. This is where they then vanish with your money. They will also play with your emotions, asking you to send them money. And the scary thing is that they are successful with this. In certain cases they ask you to provide them with your credit card details, which they then use to busy stuff for themselves.
HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?
- Never provide 3rd parties with your banking details.
- NEVER CLICK ON LINKS that are send in E-mail from un-known people or links on social media. Scammers will think of very crafty E-mails to trick the user to click on the link. This link could install malicious code on your computer or ask your to perform an certain action. Always type the link in the URL bar of your browser.
- Verify the details of the user or organization that you are going to deal with. If it sound to good to be true, it probably is. Never pay for something in advance if you have not checked.
- Best practice is to refrain from responding to these types of emails.
G.T.S.P. perform analysis on these scam/phishing kits, please forward us a copy of these scam’s or phishing emails that you have received.