As internet accessibility in Malaysia continues to expand, so does the breadth of internet scams to gain consumers’ personal information. Telenor Group, which Digi is a part of,released the results of an Internet Scams study showing that the top three scams in Malaysia are; ‘work from home’ fraud (30%);internet auction scams;(22%) and online dating scams (20%).It also revealed the top five ways Malaysian’s avoid scam – an important way to reduce these instances in the near future.
Below are the 5 ways you could avoid yourself from being scammed:
- Delete suspicious emails- follow the old adage, if you dont know what it is..don’t open. Scammers are getting more savvy with their email messages, luring users to clink open the mail and inadvertently plant a cookie or more sinister software into the devices.
- Ignore advertisements “that’s too good to be true”- commercials that often promise to solve problems, need proper research. Be cautious when revealing personal details to these sites, they could be phishing information. Authenticate the legitimacy of these companys and brands first.
- Update your anti-malware software- as menial as this seems but the truth is the bad stuff is developing faster that the good stuff. In other words, dark forces are releasing viruses and schemes ahead of security company can create an anti-virus, but they do keep up, and you should too.
- Do research about scams- learn more about the potential dangers of internet use, know about phishing, scams, cookies, and other baiting mechanism criminals use to get your profile and even bank account.
- Share knowledge with friends and family- if you’re the go to person for IT in you group, do share these information with others. These threats are real, the effects might not be immediate, criminals keep your data for months or years before they strike.
Malaysians should be more concerned, as off the regions surveyed, Malaysia was the country most vulnerable to internet scams,with 46% of respondents saying they had been victims to scams – followed only by Thailand at 43%. The study found that 1-in-5 people have been victims to both internet auction scams and online dating scams, and a 1-in-10 had their Facebook hacked. And shockingly most of the local respondents said they knew a friend or family member who has been scammed online.
