Alert with what they deposit as a tenth or bonuses that cybercriminals are activated in December in Ecuador: banks make warnings

Ecuador’s economy is boosted in this month of December due to the payment of the thirteenth salary and bonuses received by workers. In 2021, only in the public sector, close to 590 million dollars were canceled for tenths.

However, this increase in currency also draws the attention of cybercriminals, who seek, through scams, to appropriate people’s money by stealing personal data, such as bank account numbers and passwords.

The six data to identify possible scams in buying and selling items on the internet

Currently, one of the figures most used by criminals are supposed online offers that are shared on social networks or by email. “When it is around special dates, this attracts cybercriminals to carry out attacks related to deceptive communications, impersonations of sellers and even fake shops. This is why users should take into account a series of recommendations to take advantage of the benefits offered safely on the Internet.”, says Martina López, ESET Latin America Information Security researcher.

In addition, they also resort to phishing, which is a social engineering computer attack that uses digital means of communication, such as email, to deceive and defraud people. The goal of phishing is to trick people into obtaining sensitive data, such as passwords and banking information.

This cybercrime is committed through fake emails, messages or phone calls. The fraudster uses a false identity to obtain the data he needs and commit crimes, such as theft of money in bank accounts, indicates the Banco Pichincha portal.

Computer crimes grow in Ecuador; each click on the web leaves its trace

Ecuador ranked fifth in attacks by phishing in Latin America in 2020, according to data from Karsperski Lab. Therefore, one of the recommendations that Produbanco gives is to never provide personal information, card numbers or passwords through links that come in emails; Also, do not open suspicious email attachments.

How to avoid falling into the traps of cybercriminals when shopping online?

• Make all purchases in stores or brands with a verifiable reputation, and seek customer reviews whenever possible. This can be found in the reviews of some site of e-commerce where the business operates, friends or acquaintances who have previously purchased there, or comments on social networks from customers that support the veracity of the site where the purchase will be made.
• Check that the messages from brands or companies about unmissable offers are real.
• Use the official sites and social networks of the businesses to make purchases. One of the most common attacks in limited offer events is the theft of money or credit information through fake sites, impersonating popular companies and taking advantage of the urgency that limited-time offers and discounts generate in users.
• Finally, and especially in cases where online payments are made, check that the site where you operate has encryption in your communications. This means that, when data is transferred, it is not readable by those who might intercept the connection. To do this, the site URL must begin with “https://” or have the famous padlock to the left of it.

How to recognize an attack phishing?

• Unexpected Contact: Fraudsters contact their victims unexpectedly.
• Sense of urgency: when someone is trying to perform an attack of phishingthe potential victim will notice that the tone of the message is urgent, offering discounts for a limited time or asking for immediate responses to avoid blocking or closing bank accounts, for example.
• Unknown Sender: Your inbox receives messages from unknown people or web domains.
• Impersonation: the hackers They could impersonate a company or person known to the victim, to inspire trust and access sensitive information.
• Hyperlinks and attachments: many times, emails from phishing they contain links to other web pages or are even sent with attached files for download.
• Strange content: you can recognize an email from phishing for misspellings and writing with grammatical errors. Gifts or contest prizes are also often offered without having participated.

What to do if I was a victim of phishing?

If you discover that you have been the object of a cyberattack of the type phishing in a relatively short amount of time, you can try to minimize the damage by accessing your account (if possible) to kick the hacker of it, explains the Private Technical University of Loja.

It is recommended that you try to change the password and check if the attacker has changed any of the account settings to ensure that you still have access to the account if the attacker changes the password.

Social networks are the ideal niche for cybercrimes in Ecuador, how can we protect ourselves?

Also review, for example, if you have indicated a secondary address for password recovery, email forwarding, emails to another address, etc.

If you are not completely sure whether the attacker has accessed your account, you can check these signs:

one. Presence of notifications of the type “New login notice” in the trash. Only 2% of attackers permanently delete email with the new login alert.

2. If your email provider offers an activity log, check it to see if any repeated actions have been taken to mark messages as “unread.”

3. Check your sent folder to see if there are any messages that catch your attention. Also check the trash to discover notifications of delivery failure. Only 13% of attackers permanently delete these types of messages.

Four. Report. If it was possible to confirm that you were a victim of cybercriminals, you must report the attack to institutions, such as the Prosecutor’s Office, and notify banks, finance companies or even social media platforms to block accounts. (YO)