The digital era, marked by increasing connectivity, has brought a series 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 emerged as one of the main targets for digital fraud in Latin America, with a worrying increase in recent years. Losses in the Brazilian e-commerce reached R$ 8.5 million, and 64% of companies have already fallen victim to cyber attacks, according to the most recent Digital Security Barometer – from MasterCard.
In other words, every conscious company needs to understand the details of how these crimes have evolved and what are the main challenges to combat them, and this is where companies like PH3A come in, an authority in technology, a company dedicated to the development of solutions, such as DataFraud, which has helped mitigate the volume of electronic fraud occurrences.
But, after all, what are the main types of digital scams today? Paulo Cesar Costa, CEO and founder of PH3A reveals:
- Phishing: Deception through emails, text messages, or fake websites to obtain personal and financial information. In other words, the received message contains a trap link.
- Malware: Installation of malicious programs on computers or mobile devices to spy, steal data, or hijack systems. So, once again, the link carries a trap.
- Social Engineering: Psychological manipulation to induce people to provide confidential information or perform actions that benefit the criminals. Thus, the most innocent or well-meaning people end up falling for scams.
- Social media scams: Scams that exploit interactions on social media to obtain personal or financial data. In this case, social media is also a fertile ground for criminals to promote their digital scams.
- Messaging app scams: Those that take advantage of messaging apps to perpetrate scams, such as the fake kidnapping scam. Therefore, messaging apps can also be a source of fraudulent communication that deceive users.
And what factors have been driving the growth of scams? According to Paulo Cesar, there are several factors that contribute most to the increase in digital scams, including:
- Internet popularization: The increasing use of the internet and mobile devices makes the population more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In other words, with more internet usage, there is more room for criminals to act.
- Lack of awareness: Many people are still unaware of the risks of the internet and do not adopt adequate security measures. Therefore, carelessness becomes a dangerous component.
- Sophistication of criminals: Digital criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and use more elaborate techniques to deceive their victims. Thus, the intelligence in using the internet ends up occurring on both the security side and on the crime side.
- Security vulnerabilities: Security vulnerabilities in systems and applications can be exploited by criminals to gain access to personal and financial data. Therefore, all types of security technology should be considered to anticipate criminals.
Regarding the consequences of digital scams, the PH3A executive explains that there is a wide variety of frauds in the online environment, with great reach. Thus, digital scams can cause various damages to the victims, such as:
- Financial loss: The main damage is the loss of money, which can be significant in some cases.
- Damage to reputation: The disclosure of personal information can compromise the victim’s reputation.
- Emotional distress: Victims of digital scams can suffer emotional distress, such as anxiety and depression.
Costa also shares what to do to protect yourself, starting with the adoption of some security measures:
- Keep your software up to date: Keep your operating system, antivirus, and other software updated to fix vulnerabilities.
- Create strong and unique passwords: Use strong and unique passwords for each online account and avoid reusing passwords.
- Beware of suspicious emails and messages: Do not click on links or open attachments in emails from unknown senders.
- Verify the authenticity of websites: Make sure the site you are accessing is secure before entering personal information.
- Use a quality antivirus: Install a good antivirus and keep it updated.
- Keep your operating system updated: Keep your operating system updated to fix vulnerabilities.
- Do not share personal information on social networks: Avoid sharing too much personal information on social networks.
And it also emphasizes: “among the solutions to ensure data security and avoid major losses, it is necessary to use Big Data systems, which allow monitoring and cross-referencing data permanently and automatically to validate data or abort potentially fraudulent situations”, explains the CEO of PH3A. For example, fraud prevention systems can identify if the e-commerce buyer is himself and not pretending to be someone else. And in case of doubts, it generates a quiz with some questions like, what car did you own 5 years ago, what job did you have 5 years ago, who is your neighbor on the right side of your residence, which sites did you visit yesterday, etc. These are questions that no fraudster can answer accurately.
To conclude, the entrepreneur adds that it is a fact that authorities and companies also play a key role in preventing and combating scams, and technologies, including data technology, emerge as a great ally because they have the role of automatically verifying information.
“And this routine is a great advantage for any online retailer,” concludes Paulo Cesar Costa.
