Beware of online scams relating to collection of donations/festive promotions

Sri Lankans continue to fall victim to internet/online fraud despite many awareness programs to warn them of such dangers. According to recent media reports, there has been an increase in the number of online fraud complaints linked to donation campaigns for disaster relief in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, as well as promotion offers for the festive season, according to the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Sri Lanka CERT).

The CERT said that while around 100 complaints are reported every month, a majority of cases reported in November and December were linked to donation campaigns for disaster relief related to Cyclone Ditwah, as well as promotion offers for the festive season.

These complaints are of fraudsters pretending to be representatives of the Sri Lankan Government, State departments, popular supermarket chains, and reputable business organisations. Some have passed as those collecting donations to assist victims of the natural disaster while others have been those offering bargains during the new year season.

On top of this has been allegations that the recent cancellation of the appearance of an international singing sensation was due to some sort of online fraud concerning ticket sales. There has been no proper explanation as to why it was called off at the last minute but there seems to have been some sort of online fraud committed by some fraudsters using such a high-profile event.

The Sri Lanka CERT, which is the globally recognised cyber incident response centre with a team of skilled and experienced cybersecurity professionals, has been warning the public on measures they can adopt to avoid being duped but still many seem to fall victim to such scams.

In its guideline on how not to fall victim to online scams, the CERT said that being alert to scam messages is a great way to protect yourself online. These include not clicking on links where one suspects the message might not be legitimate, as scammers often pretend to be a person or organisation you trust.

Some of the other guidelines are to disable image previews in emails from non-trusted sources, not downloading applications from third-party download sites that are not widely known to be legitimate, and avoiding clicking on online ads to download applications.

With online shopping becoming more popular, there are also many scams. For this, the CERT has warned those who engage in online shopping to shop only using secure devices, protect payment information and accounts, use trusted sellers, research online shopping websites before making purchases, and stick to well-known, trusted businesses.

If someone is offering goods at extremely low prices, payments through direct bank deposits, and online stores with limited information on delivery, return, and privacy policies, these can be signs of a scam.

The CERT also warns the public not to provide personal information or One-Time Passwords (OTP) to an untrustworthy source and to not provide this type of personal information to strangers or unknown websites, which is how many get scammed.

With the use of online platforms growing in the country, it is important for the public to be aware of the danger of engaging with strangers or unknown organisations online. Some of these scam networks are global bodies and it is easy for telephones and computers to be compromised.

Hence, while the public are keen to donate money towards the relief of those affected by the natural disaster or for other welfare work, they need to be extra careful and verify if those behind such projects are genuine or trying to make an easy buck.

The same goes for online shopping and promotions, which are tempting, but exercising caution is what is important. Deals that are too good to be true usually are that and hence, it is possible to be scammed more easily than one thinks.