“You must be cognizant of the fact that scammers will always try to get your money, your information, or access to your computers & cellphones”

Recently, a particular crime has been widely reported by the Canadian press. Telephone scammers are calling elderly people pretending to be one of their grandchildren. The scammers claim they’ve been arrested, or are facing some great distress with law enforcement, and urgently need a sum of money. Known colloquially as the “grandparent scam”, this a popular cyber-attack, and police authorities in Toronto have just recently charged two scammers after a 95-year-old woman was defrauded nearly $20,000 in connection with it.

This case is just a recent example of a crime that has been targeting millions of people throughout the years. The scams can come in many shapes and forms. whether it’s over the phone, text, emails, or even WhatsApp messages. It takes only one click into a suspicious link, and information that you provide by mistake in a phone call, and it’s too late…criminals can have access to your personal information, steal your money and much more.
To talk a little bit more about this topic, and how people can prevent being the next victim, in this week’s edition of Milénio Stadium we interviewed Devi Narayan, Founder & CEO of Autnhive Corporation. Devi is an expert in cybersecurity and has previously worked as an Investigator at the Law Enforcement Agency/Government. He pointed us to the most common scams, how you can protect yourself and your personal data, what to do if you were a victim, and why these crimes are becoming so popular. The expert also tells us the difficulties that authorities might have in catching, and also charging these criminals.

Milénio Stadium: How can people prevent being a victim of a scam?
Devi Narayan: Scams can target a person, a business or even the government. These scams are getting sophisticated and are taking advantage of new technologies, publicly available information, major events, deadlines etc. to create stories that will be convincing enough to get your money or details. When dealing with any person(s) or business you should always:
Be aware of the scams going in your region – When dealing with persons always consider the possibility that this interaction may be a scam. Always remember that scammers can be very convincing. If your friend or family member is asking you to transfer money and this seems unusual, it probably is. Call this friend or family member and check if it was indeed the person.
Do your research – Ensure the person(s) or business you are talking to is legitimate. You can do a simple google search for the person or call the listed number to the government agency, to confirm if the person works there and ask to be connected to the person.
Be technology savy – Do not open suspicious text or WhatsApp messages/photos delete them immediately, use password protection for your devices, Wi-Fi, mobile devices, computer etc. Never share your password with anyone, never click on any links sent to you, never open emails from unknown sources.
Keep your personal details on paper and electronic safe – Lock up your printed data, shred documents before your dispose of them, destroy your name and address from courier label’s, use good electronic data protection tools.
Ensure you are never sending money or credit card details etc. to any one you don’t know or trust. Never share your password with any one

MS: What should a person do if they’re a victim of a fraud/ scam?
DN: If you have been a victim of identity fraud, contact your financial institution and place a flag on all your accounts, notify credit bureaus and consider purchasing credit monitoring tools, change all of your passwords. Also consider contacting your local police agency, report the matter to Canadian Anti-Fraud center. If someone is misusing your government ID, notify the appropriate government agency.

MS: What are the most common ones? Through a phone call or text message, email?
DN: Scams can take any shape, scammers can reach you via phone, text, emails, WhatsApp messages etc. You must be cognizant of the fact that scammers will always try to get your money, get your information, get into your computers/phones. It has become increasing easy for scammers to conduct a phishing scam on unsuspecting victim, by sending fraudulent message designed to trick the victim into giving up sensitive information or clicking on a link or an image that will then deploy malicious software on the victim’s machine thus allowing them observe everything while the victim is using their computer or phone to navigating the site including banking information and even lock the machine and its contents for a ransom.

MS: As an expert, why do you think this kind of crime has increased so much nowadays?
DN: Scams and cyber-crimes are usually done anonymously, the scammer or the attacker is almost always hidden behind walls of technology that makes it extremely time consuming and some time out right impossible to track them. Even if they are tracked, depending on the type of crime committed and physical location of the person(s) conducing the attack, it may not be possible to bring the person(s) to justice. This makes such a business lucrative and risk-free for criminals, further the cost of conducing such a scam or an attack is very low compared to the reward it generates.

MS: Are big companies or governmental agencies also targeted with this kind of fraud?
DN: Major corporations and governments are not immune to such scams and attacks, in fact when these organizations become victims of such an attack, its not only them that are affected, but all their customers and citizens are also dragged into the problem. Individual’s whose information was stolen from such enterprises or governments, will almost always be further victimized by these scammers. You should always be aware and ask for the security protocols in place with such entities before you provide your personal information to them.

Lizandra Ongaratto/MS