TCS+ | Online scams in Africa: how cybercriminals trick victims

Nearly half of 800 African survey participants have fallen victim to an online scam at least once, losing thousands of dollars in the process and compromising their personal data. Alarmingly, more than half (53%) of the respondents who fell victim were convinced the offer was legitimate because the website looked real, while nearly 48% of the scams were financial.<br /> This was revealed in a recent episode of TechCentral’s TCS+, featuring Anna Collard, senior vice president for content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. It is also worth mentioning that Collard was recently recognised as the Cyber Security Woman of the Year 2023 “People’s Choice” Award in Las Vegas.<br /> Collard, who lives in Cape Town, is a certified business analyst with multiple security certifications, including CISSP, CISA, CIPP/IT, ex PCI DSS QSA, ISO 27001 Implementer, and auditor. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Metaverse for the 2023-2024 term and a board member of the MiDO Cyber Academy Programme, aimed at underserved communities in South Africa to bridge the cyber skills divide.<br /> The conversation with TechCentral’s TCS+ unpacked some alarming statistics, all of which can be found in KnowBe4’s 2023 Online Scams and Victims in Africa report. Only recently released, the report is based on a survey of 800 respondents across eight African countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Mauritius and Botswana.<br /> Other key findings included that distraction and multitasking made 43% of the victims fall for an online scam, and that financial scams affected nearly 48% of respondents.<br /> “These numbers highlight that online scams have evolved,” says Collard. “What is concerning is that 43% of the victims were distracted and multitasking when they fell for the scam, which highlights how easy it is for a person to make a mistake when they are not paying attention. Their emotional states can affect a person’s judgment, awareness and decision mak