Fighting fake news and phishing attempts has now become a mainstream concern all over the world as so many scams are reported daily. As authorities catch up with these miscreants, they find another way to dupe the unsuspecting consumer using a new method or technology.
The scourge of cyber malpractices is a menace to the society as it causes a lot of grief to many people who are gullible and fall for various methods used by these scamsters. Luckily, many methods deployed by fraudsters in other parts of the world like card cloning, etc are not yet reported in Qatar.
But phishing messages vis SMS and email have been received by some. These messages purportedly show that they are from one of the local banks and try to get the customer part with their secret details like login, password and OTP.
All banks and concerned authorities have been alerting people to be careful about these messages, educating customers about techniques scamsters employ and warning them not to part with any personal information to anyone, as no bank employee is authorised to obtain this information from a customer.
Even with all this safeguards few people still fall victim to these tricks as more and more people, who are not that well-versed with technology, have started using Internet banking for everyday transactions. As online purchases and transactions increase, we need to take necessary precautions to keep these fraudsters at bay.
The first and foremost lesson is never ever share your details to anyone over a phone, whoever they claim to be. This one step itself will keep you safe from most cyber pitfalls. In case a message worries you, do check with the bank customer service.
Another equally worrying online scourge is fake news and posts. This has been a worrisome problem worldwide as these fake messages/news spreads at blistering pace through social media that by the time clarification comes it is way too late.
As someone once said, “a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
This is very true in this much connected world.
Governments have legislations to counter this problem, but there is an information overload in the digital space that to check the veracity of every news is a herculean task.
The best way to fight disinformation, especially through social media channels like WhatsApp, is to pause a moment before you forward anything and maybe you will get a clearer picture.
