Scammers tricking South Africans to hijack computing power
Cybersecurity expert Boikokobetso Makhetloane, who goes by Mr Fingerz online, has issued a warning about the tactic criminals use to hijack LinkedIn users’ computers.
Speaking to Cape Talk, Makhetloane said the scam was known as “laptop farming” and involved fake job offers that required people to use their own personal computers to connect to certain websites online.
“It may sound fairly harmless. What they want to do is remotely take control of that individual’s computer,” he said.
Once they have gained access, the malicious actors can then use some of the victim’s computer’s processing power for their own needs.
However, Makhetloane said they could also be doing so to harvest data. He warned that the perpetrators were sophisticated and that many victims may be fooled by the fake job ads.
“They always say send your resume, but they know that your resume only has a limited amount of the information that they need,” he said.
“They’re going to ask you: ‘Hey, here’s a form. Fill in this form with as many of your details as possible, and also, please send us a copy of your ID and your bank information.”
He added that their approach looked professional and sounds professional because the actors behind the scam were well-trained.
“You wouldn’t think that it’s a scam where they are harvesting your data,” Makhetloane said.
He also issued a general warning about providing identity numbers in online job applications and said applicants should do further research first.
“One thing we should realise is that a person’s identity number goes for a very good price on the dark web and they can use it for a lot of things as well,” Makhetloane said.
Scammers using LinkedIn and Indeed
Makhetloane also warned that this sort of scam and data-harvesting activity takes place on popular job and networking platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn.
He said these platforms did not have stringent requirements for registering a profile, enabling people to create fake profiles and run advertisements to harvest data.
“I always say to people, if you are applying for a job on LinkedIn, look at the person who posted that job and go after that person,” Makhetloane said.
He said it was best to message the person who posted the job ad directly to ask for further details rather than just provide your details in an application form.
“Another site where people need to be careful is Indeed. Indeed has a lot of those data-harvesting job ads and also a lot of these fake job ads. Just be very careful, some of them are not real,” he said.
MyBroadband asked LinkedIn and Indeed about these claims, and a LinkedIn spokesperson said these kinds of job scams are an issue across the Internet. Indeed hadn’t responded by publication.
“They are becoming more sophisticated. Scams of any kind are against our professional community policies,” the LinkedIn spokesperson said.
“We take proactive action to detect and stop them. We continue to invest in features to help members identify more trusted job opportunities.”
Online job and investment scams are rife in South Africa. The country’s most popular online chat app — WhatsApp — is also exploited by criminals to trick victims.
Capitec recently warned that job scams on WhatsApp often involved fraudsters impersonating digital marketing companies or platforms like AliExpress, promising easy money for simple tasks.
“Victims are often asked to pay an upfront fee to ‘unlock’ higher earnings, only to lose their money once the scammer disappears,” it said.
The bank added that young job seekers were particularly susceptible to this kind of scam. “They are often drawn to online income opportunities, making them prime targets for job scams.”
Capitec urged WhatsApp users to be very wary of job offers on the platform that seem too good to be true and added that reputable companies won’t offer jobs via WhatsApp or Telegram.
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