An ICT expert and Chief Executive Officer of FAGOW Communications Limited, Mr. Festus Akin-Gbemisola, has attributed the increase in facility takeover to the rate at which criminals gain more grounds by tricking individuals into sharing personal details in response to increased security for customer accounts, especially in some financial institutions.
While speaking in his Abuja office, Gbemisola disclosed that fraudsters were capable of collecting personal information and identifying targets through data breaches and social media footprints.
He said, “Many of these criminals are so daring to the extent that they often contact victims, perhaps through text messages or Emails, with a view of manipulating them into revealing further personal details that could aid their nefarious activities. In this wise, do not respond to whatever antics they may use to communicate with you. Their sole aim is to steal your identity for their own advantage and do you further financial harms by compromising your identity, as the case may be.
“Cybercriminals are very sophisticated as they often change tactics in their devious in-road to achieve their warped aims and objectives. You, too, should be very stubborn by not adhering to their die-hard antics and tactics. You do this by ignoring them at all times.
“We are now seeing that the advances made in securing online access to customer accounts have led to fraudsters targeting the human being at the end of the phone.”
The ICT expert further said that in most cases the criminals could resort to using old-fashioned but very effective con artistry, which primarily involves tricking individuals into giving away their personal details.
“At times, they [criminals] work hand in hand with insiders or simply pull wool across the eyes of staff usually attached to the call centres that make transactions on their victims’ accounts,” he said.
Gbemisola said people generally needed to be fully educated so as to escape the ever-widening snare of cyber-criminals.
“Whenever you are targeted, make use of the knowledge acquired through education as the best option to avoid their tricks .Education will surely indicate the red flags of a possible scam capable of ridiculing your person.
“Organisations, too, have a professional role to play by simply focusing on education through continuous training of call centre staff on the need to make the most out of new fraud prevention technology. They should do this by putting at heart at all times the place of ethics and compliance in deterring criminals,” he said.
