Scammers usually trick people who don’t know what they’re doing by giving them a false sense of legitimacy.
According to the Kepios Digital 2022: South Africa report, 41.19 million of South Africa’s population are active internet users and are at risk of at some point encountering online financial fraud.
Tony Mallam at upnup, Tshepo Matlou at Jurni, Andrew Bourne of Zoho Africa, and Zuko Mdwaba of Salesforce South Africa explore what we should be aware of to avoid being victims of cybercrime.
Due diligence is important
According to Mallam, managing director at upnup, investing in cryptocurrency is relatively new to the everyday person, and scammers often try to take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge to make them buy into a crypto scam.
Scammers usually trick people who don’t know what they’re doing by giving them a false sense of legitimacy, Mallam explains. They do this by making fake websites, crypto trading platforms that look like real ones, or investment schemes that claim to have endorsements from celebrities or people with a lot of power in the finance industry.
Other common crypto scams include rug-pull scams, where investors cannot withdraw funds after buying in; romance scams through relationships built online; phishing scams that aim to trick people into providing their personal or legitimate cryptocurrency wallet…
