Protect your money while you grow your wealth!

 At EasyEquities, aside from helping and allowing every ordinary citizen to grow their wealth, protecting it along the journey is one of the key priorities. Nicola Comninos, our Chief Risk Officer (CFO), compiled a piece breaking down some of the red flags you may have to look out for to protect your wealth from fraudsters.

Silly season is around the corner and as we all look forward to some downtime, fraudsters are looking forward to us letting our guard down so they can be the Grinch who stole Christmas early this year…

Be cautious over the festive season and ensure your account remains secure, keeping your #easy investments in your account and the fraudsters out. There are many ways fraudsters try to get hold of our information and get their hands on our hard-earned investments. Here are the top 3 scams targeting South Africans right now according to the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS), a non-profit organisation that aim to prevent fraud:

Money mule (increased by 97% in 2022) – a person approaches you and asks you to use your account for a reason such as to send money to their relative in another country. In this case, lending a helping hand is not the answer, you are at risk of helping a criminal.

Impersonation (increased by 264% in 2022) – has always been a significant crime is South Africa as fraudsters prey on their victims through phishing, smishing and vishing*.

*Phishing - scammers try to trick you into giving them your personal or financial information by pretending to be a legitimate company or organisation. Smishing - a type of phishing scam where attackers send SMS messages (or text messages) to trick victims into sharing personal information or installing malware on their devices. Vishing - almost identical to smishing, except criminals use Voice over IP to place phone calls to trick victims.

Forged documentation – a person unlawfully and intentionally makes a false or counterfeit document to commit fraud, e.g. false qualifications increased by 158% in 2022.

Don’t get stuck in a RUT, secure your account and keep your information safe:

• Regularly check your account to see that your investments are safe and sound in the markets and not in a criminal’s hands
• Use a Unique username and passphrase as a password with a mix of lower and upper cases, letters and special characters e.g. $ILUVEEDec2022$, don’t share it and don’t write it down
• Enable Two-factor authentication – secure your account with both an e-mail address and a cellphone number

Top 10 tips to protect your wealth

1. Don’t fall for scams and promises of easy money – when it sounds too good to be true, it is! Investing is #easy with us and a very rewarding journey, but patience is your key to success!
2. Don’t allow fraudsters to pressurise you into giving them your personal details for some prize you won for a competition you never entered
3. Always know who you’re dealing with and why they need your personal information
4. Don’t share personal information such as your ID number on social media
5. Don’t click on links unless you have verified it’s a safe link – taking you to a trusted domain and a legit service provider like us https://www.easyequities.co.za/
6. Don’t rush transactions, take it #easy, take your time and make sure you transact safely and securely
7. Don’t trust unsolicited emails, they’re often fraudulent
8. Trust your gut, if you suspect something is fishy, doesn’t feel right and you’re possibly being scammed, stop all contact with the scammer and report it to us, the police and your bank.
9. Check your credit reports regularly. If you find accounts that don’t belong to you or other incorrect information, follow the instructions for disputing those items
10. Protect your information by registering with the South African Fraud Prevention Services if your ID or passport has been stolen. This can be done at https://www.safps.org.za/

#EasyVSTRs way you and your loved ones have an awesome festive season, and may your account be safe and your investments forever growing