Internet fraud and phishing costs SA R2.2 billion
·14 Sep 2014
South Africa is the second most targeted country in the world for internet fraud and phishing attacks.
In 2013, South Africans lost over R2.2 billion according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC)
Internet security firm, Phishield, has highlighted the top 10 scams in SA:
- Identity theft is simply theft of your identity. It’s one of the leading contributors to successful fraud and is estimated to costs South African’s over R1 billion every year, according to SABRIC.
- Phishing is internet fraud. Fake emails are sent out by scammers to trick you into giving out valuable information such as card numbers, user ID’s, passwords and banking details. Most people know what phishing is, but we’re still falling for it.
- Smishing is the SMS version of phishing. With the explosion of mobile phones usage across South Africa, it’s not surprising fraudsters have hopped on this band wagon.
- Credit card fraud — Reports by the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), say losses amounted to R366.8 million in 2013 — an increased 22% from R300.6 million in 2012.
- Card skimming dominates South Africa’s card fraud. It claims almost a quarter of all debit and credit card fraud and runs into millions of Rands.
- Counterfeit credit-card fraud increased by 27% in 2013 and contributed to 39% of the overall credit card gross fraud loss.
- Lost and stolen credit card fraud increased by 102% from R15.6 million in 2012 to R31.7 million in 2013.
- Card not present (CNP) fraud – CNP transitions are: mail order, telephone order or a sale made over the internet CNP fraud on the increase — up 16% from R154.7 million in 2012 to R178.7 million in 2013.
- Account takeover card fraud is the fastest growing type of fraud in South Africa — it increased by 100.5% from R1.1 million in 2012 to R2.2 million in 2013.
- Cheque fraud is equally as popular with criminals. It’s estimated that 46% of banking fraud worldwide is cheque fraud. In South Africa the figure is probably just over 50%. According to the banking council, over R200 million was lost to cheque fraud in 2013.
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