Cyber Fraud Network Busted on Instagram

 

These people were caught because they published their high flying lifestyle with mansions and expensive cars (all obtained from cyber crime proceeds) on social media, where they had millions of followers on Instagram. They told their followers “if they have a dream and work hard they too can have this lifestyle”. U.S. authorities were able to track them down through their social media posts.

 

Here is one of the ways they scammed others: 

Scammers compromise an email account i.e. get the log in credentials and study communication between a customer and a vendor. The scammer would study legitimate emails especially with regard to how payments are made to vendors or how money is transferred. The scammer would then redirect emails to their own email account and send out emails to the customer (you) that looked like they are coming from the vendor, indicating that the 'vendor' had a new bank account including 'updated' bank account information. Once an electronic payment is made to the scammer it is almost impossible to recover your money and you still owe the legitimate vendor.

 

The FBI said in 2019 it had received more than 460,000 complaints of suspected cyber fraud, with losses of more than $3.5 billion reported. Only $300 million was recovered, it said.

Don't be scammed! Here are some ways to protect yourself:

Be informed – know what to look for.

Have proper protocols in place that validate vendor banking information changes and wire transfers.

Use Office 365 with additional security tools including:

Spam Filter

An alert system that warms if someone is logging into your account from outside the country

MFA (multi factor authentication) on everything possible.

 

See the full article from the BBC news here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53309873