Social Media Users In Kuwait Report Increased Online Scamming

Users of various social media platforms in Kuwait have reported an increase in online scamming by criminals and fraudsters using social media platforms as their base.

A recent survey by online security firm Kaspersky confirmed this increase in online fraud in Kuwait. The survey found 64 percent of survey respondents in Kuwait admitted that they or their loved ones suffered from criminals via social networks. In most cases fraudsters pretended to be a familiar person known to the potential victims, with the manipulation scheme involving a request for help from a friend

Users may not recognize immediately who the person on the other side of the screen is. Though nearly a majority of respondents mentioned that they or their loved ones identified the scammers immediately, nearly 45 percent still needed to start a dialogue in order to identify the scammer.

“Social media are highly integrated in our daily life and scammers just cannot miss the opportunity to reach users directly through all the popular platforms. The fraudsters may find your personal data in your social media account and use it, for example with social engineering methods. In this case, we should not forget about basic security rules. For example, it’s better to hide private data and double-check your interlocutor if he urgently asks to transfer money or open a suspicious link,” said Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky, Maher Yamout,

People also try to stay safe from scammers through special apps and programs. According to the survey, at least 23 percent of respondents said they used special security solutions (antivirus) to protect themselves against online scams, 23 percent installed Caller ID and 38 percent applied built-in phone functions (blacklist and etc.) against phone fraud.

In a reminder to people that they need to ensure adherence to basic online security, Kaspersky suggested the following online safety measures:

Do not click on suspicious links in emails and messages in chats

If you find a particular promotion and want to participate, check the official website or official social media accounts to reassure that the company or brand behind the

promotion is legitimate and is officially offering the promotion

Install a reliable security solution with up-to-date databases of phishing sites, scam and spam

Never share confidential information with third parties, including a one-time code from an SMS or push notification;

Install a solution that detects phone numbers of spammers and fraudsters;

Remember: if an offer on the Internet sounds too tempting to be true, then most likely it is fake.

 

SOURCE : TIMES KUWAIT

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