The hidden threat in your inbox: Email, SMS and WhatsApp scams on the rise

By Michael Lazenby and Yvette du Toit

Scammers are a dime-a-dozen as digital communication has become so embedded in daily life. Scam messages are now almost indistinguishable from legitimate ones. What is new, however, is the scale, sophistication and financial success of the criminals behind them.

Globally, text-based scams – whether SMS or WhatsApp – are a booming criminal enterprise capable of  scamming users into disclosing all sorts of personal information, mostly unwittingly, typically by entering their bank details after receiving fraudulent scam messages.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Chinese cybercrime syndicates alone generated more than US$1 billion in just three years through highly coordinated text-message fraud. These messages range from fake government payment notifications to identity-theft operations and payment-technology scams, all engineered to deceive victims  into divulging personal and financial information.

While the phenomenon is global, scams also evolve to exploit local conditions. For instance, during rebate season in South Africa (and the US) taxpayers routinely receive fraudulent messages that appear authentic enough to convince them to ‘verify’ their banking details – unwittingly handing scammers the keys to their SARS accounts.

Similar to email phishing, SMS scams or ‘smishing’ are just as prolific and often achieve even higher success rates for criminals. The links are designed to lure a victim to a fictitious website, which are typically remarkably accurate, most often including correct contact information. One click on a fraudulent link and the dark web takes over, triggering keystroke tracking, password harvesting and the extraction of financial data. These details are then monetised through untraceable purchases such as gift cards, online subscriptions, digital vouchers and other anonymous transactions.

Current-day scamming trends are so successful that the scamming groups openly sell the hardware upon which these scams can be executed via various technology platforms. Cyber criminals, in mining and hacking of legitimate institutional databases, also sell stolen databases with users’ personal details and even banking credentials to these gangs.

In the US alone, the FBI received more than 60 000 complaints regarding text-based scams last year – excluding the significant number of victims who never report incidents due to embarrassment or perceived lack of recourse.

Affluent individuals and pensioners remain prime targets, with cybercriminals often purchasing stolen databases from compromised financial institutions and service providers. These datasets include personal information and, in some cases, banking credentials – shortening the criminals’ path to a successful attack. The primary defence remains vigilance.

The golden rule is simply not to click on any links within your text messages, without doing some form of checking its legitimacy. It is not advised to act on the messages as one may have done in the past. Often, the contact details are fictitious, so rather use known numbers instead, such as calling a local bank branch or official office numbers.

As cybercriminals continue refining their methods, awareness and caution are essential. Delete unsolicited messages, scrutinise unexpected requests for personal information, and confirm authenticity before taking action. In an environment where digital fraud is advancing faster than regulation, proactive behaviour remains the most effective safeguard.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/url-scam-texts-china-gangs-68e96097

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joshmarcusstarrgroup_phishing-artificialintelligence-scammers-activity-7191176401402630144-l8Ic