From ‘Yahoo Boys’ who operate online to the seemingly innocent man or woman on the street, scammers are everywhere, and their tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Dave Barber from Walking with Winners says, “You wouldn’t be able to spot a scammer in the street. They don’t have a distinct appearance, like being covered in tattoos and wearing thick gold chains, while offering you a brilliant investment opportunity. Scams are also not chance encounters. Scammers do their best to fit into society and in this way are able to gain your confidence.”
According to the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS), 2024 fraud statistics showed a 32% increase in reported fraud incidents in the previous year. Banking fraud contributed to 45% of these incidents, followed by the micro finance sector at 19% and retail at 14%.
With the country’s fraud landscape rising to alarming levels, knowing what to look out for to avoid being scammed is vital. From banking fraud and ‘money muling’ to corporate scamming and cyber crime, the list of ways people fall prey to predators is seemingly endless.
Scams and their targets
Victims of impersonation fraud increased by 54% last year according to 2024 Fraud Statistics. Momentum Insure Head of Claims and Claims Support, Funeka Ngewu, confirms this, noting that the insurer has “seen a marked rise in policyholders deceived by fraudsters into sharing their policy information by posing as insurance employees and even brokers.
“Scammers are identifying potential targets through their social media posts, and in this way are able to gather a wealth of information on them, from where they shop to where they work. This is why it’s so important to keep social media profiles private and secure,” says Barber.
Based on recent news reports, a prominent group that has come to be known as the ‘Yahoo Boys’ are also becoming an increasing danger, operating on platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and TikTok and dealing in scams that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. Their tactics include romance fraud to trick unsuspecting victims into falling in love with them, as well as preying on the vulnerabilities of the elderly.
Most people have heard of social engineering attacks like spoofing and phishing that are used to coerce people into sharing OTP pins and internet banking login information. Now, vishing has also become a popular scamming technique among cyber criminals. Preying on the elderly in most cases, fraudsters will contact their intended victims over the phone pretending to be from their bank and alerting them to fraud taking place on their account that requires the victim’s immediate action. In this way, scammers are able to get OTP pins and banking details directly from the account holder.
“People get sucked into emails they receive and promises made to them over the internet,” adds Barber “When you hear what scammers are able to accomplish, not through the barrel of a gun like one might imagine, but with their words and making people believe something that is completely untrue, it’s exasperating.”
The world of scamming has grown exponentially, indiscriminately targeting South Africans and preying on their vulnerabilities.
