Scams stories

“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen cybercriminals leverage Covid-related trends as lures in their phishing campaigns.">>

"Attackers are making millions of dollars with this scam," according to Sophos.>>

The mobile malware infects and steals data from the phones of unsuspecting victims.>>

Consumers think banks, retailers and mobile operators need to do more to protect them and their personal information from fraudsters.>>

The number of cybersecurity incidents in the second quarter of 2021 has risen to more than 1,350, accounting for $3.9 million in direct financial losses.>>

According to Avast, many New Zealanders are exposing themselves to unnecessary online risks and cyber threats through careless digital practices.>>

Scammers have been looking for ways to amplify DDoS attacks.>>

Olympic-related phishing websites are designed to steal users credentials.>>

These scams are specifically designed to trick unsuspecting consumers to share personal information or engage in behaviour that puts their privacy at risk.>>

"You might find the love of your life online but unfortunately, there are also bots and fraudsters looking for prey on dating platforms."online >>

Tactics used by fraudsters to victimise users online have evolved over time, from pure cold calling to more sophisticated ploys.>>

"Organisations need to re-evaluate the communications channels they use to interact with customers to better establish trust. With fraudsters monopolising open channels such as SMS and email, these channels cannot be relied upon.">>

The top scams related to the pandemic, including vaccine-oriented, financial relief, and tech support scams.>>

“Today scam is more than just solitary fraudulent web pages, it’s an entire industry with advanced technologies under the hood.">>

Tessien has found a growing trend of SMS scams impersonating meal kit delivery companies.>>

"Timeliness is key, you must get the alert in front of people at the exact moment they are at risk of fraud. Without this, banks will continue to spend huge amounts of money on fraud prevention messaging that will never have an impact.">>

"As we connected to the internet for everything from work and school to entertainment, social connection and even groceries, cybercriminals took advantage and launched coordinated attacks and convincing scams.">>

“With COVID-19 being around for over a year now and employees becoming more aware of the types of scams that have come out related to the pandemic, cyber criminals are having less success with related phishing attacks.">>

Spikes in vaccine-related phishing activity centred around new updates, announcements and ground-breaking approvals from around the world.>>

In total, Australians lost $176 million to scams in 2020, 23% higher than the previous year, with phishing the most reported type.>>

As the medicines are being offered on the dark net, purchasers have no way of knowing whether they are genuine, according to Check Point.>>

"Attackers prefer to use COVID-19 in their less targeted scamming attacks that focus on fake cures and donations.">>

Fraudsters are targeting last-minute Christmas shoppers via email and hackers are targeting electronic devices that feature on many wish lists.>>

COVID-19 scams, ransomware attacks, mobile adware and fleeceware, stalkerware and deepfakes were the top cyber threats that impacted Australian and global businesses in 2020.>>