Fraud and scams
…are everywhere, popping up in your messages, emails, and even phone calls. With so many scammers, it’s important to know how to keep yourself safe.
So, how can you protect yourself in this scam-filled world?
Well, it’s probably best to start with what fraud is. Well, according to the law and a few Google searches, fraud happens when someone acts in a misleading way to gain an unfair advantage of or deprive someone, in this case you, of your rights.
While many people use the words ‘scam’ and ‘fraud’ interchangeably, it’s worth noting that financial institutions see them as two different things. Scams involve tricking you into giving away your hard-earned money willingly or unknowingly. On the other hand, fraud is all about sneaky financial theft that happens without you even knowing it.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into ways you can avoid falling victim to fraud and scams.
Fraud Prevention
While fraud negatively affects everyone, it is especially damaging for small businesses. So how do you protect your business from the risk of fraud and cybercrime when doing financial transactions online?
Firstly, we want to emphasise that, at Lula, we place a very strong focus on security. To safeguard sensitive information, we follow strict regulations, including PCI compliance. This ensures that your information remains secure and protected at all times. In addition, we are in the process of setting up an internal Security Operations team. This team will collaborate with our current security measures to effectively combat cybercrime and strengthen our overall security infrastructure.
Further, to ensure the security of all our communications with our industry-leading third-party suppliers, we implement a robust double encryption technology. This advanced encryption method safeguards any sensitive information exchanged between us, offering an extra layer of protection.
We have also implemented SSL Certificates to ensure the security of our communication channels. This means that any information exchanged between us and our users is encrypted, protecting it from unauthorised access. Furthermore, all data stored on our servers is also encrypted, both when it is being transferred and when it is at rest. This includes our backups, which are kept secure to prevent potential breaches or data loss.
Okay, that was a lot of information. Now you might be wondering, ‘Okay, but how can I avoid getting caught up in fraud and scams beyond that’?
There are several methods fraudsters use. It is an ever-evolving problem, especially with the advent of technological advancements and AI. If nothing else, fraudsters and scammers are nothing inventive, so never let your guard down when dealing with sensitive information.
Phishing Scams:
Phishing is an online scam that targets individuals by sending them fraudulent emails that masquerade as legitimate sources, such as well-known companies or brands.
It is an unfortunate truth that there are a lot of scammers across various industries, aiming to deceive and defraud unsuspecting customers. At our company, we take a proactive approach when it comes to customer safety. We aim to inform our customers about the risks associated with online transactions and remain vigilant in identifying and addressing impersonators as they arise. Our top priority is ensuring the security and safety of our users.
To combat impersonation attempts, we immediately report all cases to the relevant authorities. Additionally, we collaborate with different providers to identify and take action against any email addresses or websites associated with these impersonators, aiming to remove or flag them as necessary.
As a customer, it is crucial to ensure the legitimacy of any communication you receive from your bank or other sources, such as emails, text messages, or phone calls requesting personal or financial information. Taking steps to verify the authenticity of these requests will help protect your sensitive data and safeguard against potential fraud.
Access protection:
Small businesses often worry about unauthorised access to their accounts and data, which is a valid concern. We understand that our customers may be hesitant to link their bank accounts to ours. We take this apprehension into careful consideration and implement robust security measures to ensure the protection of their information.
Our company is committed to following all applicable laws and regulations. We also place great importance on enhancing our security measures to provide the highest level of protection possible. We have policies that detail how we collect and process personal information of our customers. These are available on our website together with the contact details of our Information Officer should a customer have any concerns or queries.
Payment Processing:
Payment processing systems’ security is a big concern for small businesses. You want to ensure your customer’s sensitive payment information is protected from potential threats.
We comply with all the necessary regulations and are committed to enhancing our security measures. Rest assured that any transactional information you provide is fully secured and encrypted while it’s being stored, and when it’s being transmitted. We strive to maintain strong partnerships with industry-leading third-party suppliers. This allows us to integrate their services into our platform through secure channels.
It’s important to note that we do not store any payment processing data ourselves, ensuring the highest level of security for our customers’ information.
Do’s and Dont’s To Protect Yourself
- Never share your Online Banking username and/or password with anyone. Ever.
- Don’t ever share your One Time PIN (OTP) with anyone.
- Never click on links in emails that look suspicious.
- Always type in www.lula.co.za in your browser.
- Be very wary of company names that use web-based email addresses like junkmail@yahoo.com, hotmail.com, or gmail.com.
- Regularly check out your transactions.
- If you haven’t entered the lottery or any other competitions, don’t get your hopes up about winning. It’s pretty simple – no play, no win!
- Never let your bank card out of your sight when you’re paying for something.
- When in doubt, call us.
More Popular Scams To Look Out For:
- Vishing
- 419 scams
- SMS’hing
- Deposit and payment scams
- Change of bank details
- Pyramid and Ponzi scams
