Digital scams continue to multiply and generate billionaire losses for Brazilian e-commerce

The digital age, marked by increasing connectivity, has brought with it a number of benefits to society. However, the dark side of this reality is the proliferation of digital scams that continue to multiply in the online environment. So much so that Brazil has consolidated itself as one of the main targets of digital fraud in Latin America, with a worrying increase in recent years. The losses in Brazilian e-commerce have reached R$ 8.5 million, and 64% of companies have already been victims of cyber attacks, according to the most recent survey of the MasterCard Digital Security Barometer & Security.

That is, every conscious company needs to understand the details of how these crimes evolved and what the main challenges to combat them, and this is where companies like PH3A, a technology authority, a company dedicated to developing solutions, such as DataFraud, which has helped mitigate the volume of occurrences of electronic fraud, come in.

But, after all, what are the main types of digital scams these days? Paulo Cesar Costa, CEO and founder of PH3A reveals:

• Phishing: Deception through emails, text messages or fake websites to obtain personal and financial information. That is, the message received contains some link as a trap.
• Malware: Installing malicious programs on computers or mobile devices to spy, steal data or hijack systems. Then, once again the link carries a trap.
• Social engineering: Psychological manipulation to induce people to provide confidential information or to take actions that benefit criminals.
• Scams on social networks: Scams that exploit interactions on social networks to obtain personal or financial data. In this case, social networks are also fertile ground for crooks to promote their digital scams.
• Scams in messaging apps: Those who take advantage of messaging apps to apply scams, such as the fake hijack. Therefore, messaging apps can also be a source of fraudulent communication that deceive users.

And what factors have driven the growth of scams? According to Paulo Cesar are several factors that contribute most to the increase of digital scams, among them:

• Popularization of the internet: The increasing use of the internet and mobile devices makes the population more vulnerable to cyber attacks. That is, with more use of the Internet, more scope for criminals to act.
• Lack of awareness: Many people are still not aware of the risks of the internet and do not adopt adequate security measures.
• Sophistication of criminals: Digital criminals are increasingly sophisticated and use increasingly elaborate techniques to deceive their victims. Thus, Internet use intelligence ends up happening on the side of security and also crime.
• Security flaws: Security flaws in systems and applications can be exploited by criminals to gain access to personal and financial data. Therefore, all kinds of security technology should be considered to anticipate criminals.

Regarding the consequences of digital scams, the PH3A executive says that there is a wide variety of frauds in the online environment, with great power of reach. Thus, digital scams can cause various losses to victims, such as:

• Financial loss: The main loss is the loss of money, which can be significant in some cases.
• Reputation damage: The disclosure of personal information may compromise the reputation of the victim.
• Emotional disorders: Victims of digital scams can suffer emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Costa still shares what to do to protect himself, starting with the adoption of some security measures:

• Keep your software up to date: Keep your operating system, antivirus, and other software up to date to fix vulnerabilities.
• Create strong and unique passwords: Use strong and unique passwords for each online account and avoid reusing passwords.
• Be wary of suspicious emails and messages: Do not click on links or open attachment files in emails from unknown senders.
• Check the authenticity of the sites: Make sure that the website you are accessing is secure before entering personal information.
• Use a quality antivirus: Install a good antivirus and keep it up to date.
• Keep your operating system up to date: Keep your operating system up to date to fix vulnerabilities.
• Do not share personal information on social networks: Avoid sharing too much personal information on social networks.

And also points out: “among the solutions to ensure data security and avoid major losses, you need to make use of Big Data systems, which allow monitoring and cross-checking of data permanently and automatically to validate data or abort potentially fraudulent situations”, explains the CEO of PH3A. For example, fraud prevention systems allow you to identify if the e-commerce buyer is himself and is not impersonating someone else. And in case of doubts, generates a quiz with some questions of the type, which car you had 5 years ago, which job you had 5 years ago, who is your neighbor on the right side of your residence, which you can answer these sites yesterday.

To close, the entrepreneur adds that it is a fact that authorities and companies also have a key role in preventing and combating scams, and technologies, including data, emerge as a great ally, as it has the role of making automatic information conferences.

“E this routine is a great advantage for any and all electronic retail”, concludes Paulo Cesar Costa.