How Scammers Use Psychology to Trick Victims into Disclosing Sensitive Data
According to the FBI, cyber-criminals stole over $6.9 billion from companies and victims using social engineering tactics in 2021 alone! Social engineering is a sinister tactic deployed by criminals where they research potential victims to uncover their behaviours, likes and dislikes and customise a potentially catastrophic scam.
By establishing trust with victims through carefully worded emails, voicemails and text messages, fraudsters bait them into transferring money, providing confidential information or downloading a file that installs malware on the company network.
| Types of Social Engineering Scams and Your Defence | |
| Email Scam
Pretends to be coworkers or trusted company representatives, using professional-looking emails that seem legitimate but are actually scams. Always verify the legitimacy of the sender’s email address |
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| Telephone Scam
Impersonates guests, fellow employees or familiar companies to trick victims into quickly handing over sensitive Always confirm the caller ID and cross reference with online contact information available on legit website |
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| Online Scam
Creates mock company websites or fake online profiles to disguise the scam. Always confirm the website address matches with legit URL and includes “HTTPS” with the lock icon. |
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Fraudsters always rely on people’s good-hearted and trusting nature but if a request arouses your suspicions – trust your gut and use the “Submit a Phish” button in your Outlook toolbar to report the incident. Thank you for helping keep us cyber secure!
To learn more about avoiding social engineering attacks, visit Terranova – Social Engineering.*
*This link takes you to a third-party website. This is an approved, safe link to Terranova, the vendor helping us with this program.