Wrong fraud advice can make one more vulnerable to fraud

There are fraud warnings advertised on various websites. Almost every organisation and every business affected by fraud issues some sort of advice to their customers. There are also those that purport they are experts on scams, calling themselves ‘experienced scam baiters’. There are warnings that describe recent scams, websites that log emails scammers are using, experiences shared by victims. This is all good, it is important to be aware of different scams out there. It is important to share your experience so that a quick Google search may help someone else but the real trick is to be smarter than a scammer. And this is where things get hard.

What makes quality fraud advice? First of all, any advice is better than none but outdated fraud advice can be very dangerous. For example, I recently saw and email from quite a prominent organisation that deals with safe money transactions and it contained fraud advice which is terribly outdated. Telling customers that ‘phishing’ emails will never address them by their name is no longer applicable. Technology has moved on and so did criminals. Frequently, individual’s stolen data is used to make phishing emails look genuine or a fraudster may also compromise a legitimate company and send you emails that will then ask you to follow links to malicious sites. Making phishing emails look legitimate is highly profitable, therefore many fraudsters invest time and effort in spoofing or faking genuine details so that a phone call or an email will look highly legitimate. Giving outdated fraud advice can therefore, make one more vulnerable to fraud. And a customer that follows advice given by your organisation and is then defrauded will forever have a negative view towards your brand.

Rather than being a life line, outdated fraud advice can make you more vulnerable

So what is my advice?  Rely on yourself.  Your intuition, your gut feelings, your intellect. And verify as much as you can. Why?  Because fraudsters invest time and effort into their craft, coming up with new scams all the time.  And because, despite of all the warnings, forums and help agencies out there, we will always be one step behind fraudsters.

Successful scam relies on the element of surprise, something you can’t Google, something that is not flashing up anywhere.  Just have a look at some of the forums, the plethora of scams on offer is both ingenious and deadly. Knowing an email a known scammer used can only help you until they generate another one and start from the beginning. So what would be better advice, better warning then?  Be vigilant, check everything and try to understand how scammers design and execute different frauds and what effect will that likely have on you so you can modify your reactions and your behaviour. It takes a smart person to be a successful scammer so don’t underestimate them.  Learn to think critically and pay attention to all the details you are given. Ask questions, delay decisions, Google things, ask others for advice… Look at your own weaknesses and address them. Do you act on impulse? If so, make a rule to sleep on it before you buy or reply to things. Do you struggle to say no? Then say not right now instead. Are you unmotivated to read terms and conditions? This can lead to you agreeing to things you didn’t want to do. Scrutinise information. Cross reference. Take a moment to understand what you are feeling - scammers often evoke strong emotions to encourage impulsive decisions.

Another valid advice is, no matter what the email is, never to click links in emails. Verify by logging to your accounts independently. Sadly, social media has made us automatically click links, because this is how we share information with our friends. But automatic link clicking has also made us more vulnerable to fraud offers, especially if the email is spoofed and appears to be coming from a friend.