Image: © Kenstocker/Stock.adobe.com
Research from the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), shows there has been an uptick in how often people are targeted by scams via their communication devices.
Research released today (10 March) by fraud awareness initiative FraudSmart, as part of a new Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) awareness campaign ‘See the Scam Behind the Screen’, has shown that more than three-quarters of surveyed Irish adults (78pc) are being targeted by scam text messages, emails, phone calls or online content monthly.
The FraudSmart Social Engineering Survey, which is supported by Google, was conducted in February of this year by Core Research, collecting data from 1,000 adults from the Republic of Ireland. Its findings highlighted the dangers of social engineering tactics that often precipitate the scams that are used by criminal groups to manipulate targets into transferring money or sharing sensitive information.
The research indicates that fraudulent behaviour is on the rise as 45pc of those who participated said they have noticed that, in comparison to last year, they are increasingly the target of suspicious activity.
The primary channel through which people have been contacted is via their mobile phone, with 58pc encountering scam messages and 52pc receiving scam calls. Nearly half of those surveyed have dealt with fraudulent emails.
Typically, people have avoided serious consequences by observing scam prevention methods. For example, blocking suspicious numbers (58pc), ignoring unsolicited phone calls and messages from unknown sources (55pc and 53pc respectively), and never clicking unknown links in text messages, social media or instant messaging platforms (53pc).
Concerningly, less than one-third of people stated that they are taking basic online precautions when online.
Only 32pc of those surveyed said they actively check for the ‘https’ at the beginning of a web address, which is used to ensure that your activity is not vulnerable to threat actors. Just 27pc of people said they use secured internet rather than public Wi-Fi and only 26pc visit a website of a company as opposed to clicking through to the website via links on social media or pop-up adverts.
Niamh Davenport, the head of financial crime at BPFI, said: “With our latest research clearly demonstrating the high frequency and increasing volumes with which consumers are being targeted with various types of scam communications, it is also evident that there is still a distance to travel in ensuring we are all fully alert to and taking the key preventative steps necessary in order to protect ourselves from the barrage of scams being continuously levelled at us via texts messages, emails and social media.
“Social engineering tactics are now used across practically all sophisticated fraud and scams, enabling criminals to groom and manipulate people into transferring money or divulging personal or financial details. These types of deception tactics see fraudsters using phishing emails, fake offers or impersonation posing as someone from a genuine organisation such as your bank, utility or delivery company or even a government department.”
We recently spoke with Colm Healy, the CEO and co-founder of mobile security start-up Corrata, on the importance of organisations taking measures to protect employee devices from malicious behaviours.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
