Technology has made easy the lives of many – from the long walks to deliver a message and rides to the post office, then telephones and then internet, with internet came email communication and now we have video calls, sharing information has become instant, now you can communicate with your family, friends, colleagues and any other person you wish to talk with.
Technology is advancing at a very fast rate which means we also have to keep up with the trend else we shall be caught off guard. The rise of cyber crime over the years has been alarmingly very fast even with the daily improvement of security features on systems that have been created for people to use.
Today scammers are using social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, twitter, Instagram and many others to collect people’s personal data and use it for wrong reasons by sharing URL links, images and files that seem like a promotion of a product, a customized message, etc. – that way if you click on the link, it redirects you to a site which has a form that you have to fill in your personal data in order for your customized message to be sent to your loved ones or in order for you to stand a chance to win the product. The personal information you give is mostly used to commit fraud and other criminal activities like someone could call your family and friends asking for money claiming to be you. They may call on your phone asking for the PIN to your Accounts claiming to help you unblock your account since your service providers have blocked it or rectify errors with your account – they have gone a mile in hacking and stealing people’s WhatsApp accounts by registering your account using a different number and when WhatsApp sends you a code, they call you asking for that registration code, the moment you give it to them boom!! Your account is taken from you and is gone forever, they will use your account to con the people in your contact list. They always take advantage of innocent naive people and those who like getting free things all the time.
Let us protect ourselves and the people we love from those scammers first by avoiding clicking on URL links that are not from trusted sources and also educated them that free things are not always free, not to share their private information with anyone especially your login credentials like passwords (have strong passwords that includes capital letters, small letters, punctuations, numerics) and PINs.
YOUR PRIVACY IS YOUR PRIORITY AND SECURITY BEGINS WITH YOU.