The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) has provided advice to South Africans to ensure that they are not targeted by fraudsters or criminals this Black Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnline shopping is one of the fastest-growing retail platforms in South Africa. It makes sense therefore to update and familiarise oneself with the necessary safety features and measures while shopping,\u201d said SABRIC.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter all, you will not enter your card pin with someone leering over your shoulder while paying in a shopping queue. Why expose yourself similarly online?\u201d<\/p>\n
SABRIC said that fraud incidents across online and mobile banking apps increased by 75.3% in 2018, and for this reason, SABRIC recommends that consumers keep the following five tips in mind during Black Friday:<\/p>\n
Malicious parties are skilled at using unsecured Wi-Fi connections to gain access to information transmitted over these networks.<\/p>\n
Therefore, SABRIC recommended that consumers rather use their mobile data when they make any financial transactions while shopping away from their home Wi-Fi connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving strong, secure passwords is essential to keeping your online identity and accounts safe from hackers,\u201d said SABRIC.<\/p>\n
The organisation said passwords should always include a mixture of letters , numbers, and special characters.<\/p>\n
This makes it exponentially harder for malicious parties to crack users\u2019 passwords and access their online platforms.<\/p>\n
Phishing is an ever-present security threat to users, and Black Friday is a golden opportunity for scammers to target South African consumers using this method.<\/p>\n
\u201cScammers might target you with emails that contain promotional links, appearing to be from a legitimate retailer,\u201d said SABRIC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an attempt to get your attention and trick you into clicking on a link which carries malicious malware and stealing your personal information.\u201d<\/p>\n
To avoid this, SABRIC recommends that users do not click on any links that they are not certain are secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you forget your bank card somewhere while shopping, rather cancel it immediately than go back to look for it,\u201d said SABRIC.<\/p>\n
It explained that even if you find your card, someone may have seen it first and taken your card details.<\/p>\n
This would allow them to use your bank account for fraud \u2013 even if your card is in your possession.<\/p>\n
With the rise of e-commerce, there are now thousands of online storefronts to choose from.<\/p>\n
However, not all of them are secure, and shopping on an insecure platform runs the risk of exposing your personal or banking details to malicious parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways look for a padlock on the site\u2019s URL website itself to make sure it is safe,\u201d said SABRIC.<\/p>\n
This padlock shows that the website has an HTTPS certificate \u2013 which means that it offers significantly improved security over websites that don\u2019t have this implemented.<\/p>\n
Ethel Nyembe, Head of Card Issuing at Standard Bank South Africa also asked South Africans to be especially careful on Black Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge consumers to remain vigilant of scammers who are looking to steal your money and personal details in the real world and the virtual world,” Nyembe said.<\/p>\n
“Black Friday is known to be one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, and it goes without saying that, just like the festive season, this is a busy time for criminals.”<\/p>\n
“Be sure to take extra precautions to protect yourself, your purchases, and your personal information. If something seems suspicious, it probably is, so stay away from it,\u201d Nyembe added.<\/p>\n
SABRIC has provided advice to South Africans to ensure that they are not targeted by fraudsters or criminals this Black Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341039,"featured_media":239328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55460],"tags":[7001,10412,463],"class_list":["post-329769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-friday","tag-black-friday","tag-online-shopping","tag-security-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330117,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329769\/revisions\/330117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}