Do you regularly use WhatsApp or Telegram and have you ever experienced a scam attempt? Cybercriminals know that the majority of users who have a mobile phone download social networks to communicate with their loved ones or to consult any type of information. It is at this precise moment when criminals begin to hunt down their victims using their most sophisticated techniques, which are presented through the so-called social engineering. What exactly does it consist of?
At this point, we should be more aware than ever of all the tricks that hacker groups prepare to take over all our data and cause moral damage. But the truth is that the mechanics they use are increasingly unpredictable and at any moment they can bring out their best weapons to trick us and get a good loot.
For this reason, many pro-consumer organizations, cybersecurity offices or the State Security Forces themselves try to raise awareness and educate people in the best possible way, through alert messages and notices, with the aim of preventing them from falling into the traps. clutches of cybercrime. Thus, the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has launched a statement to show how dangerous the practice of social engineering can be and what paths we must take to avoid suffering from it.
What is social engineering and how does it work?
WhatsApp is the most used messaging application on the entire planet, with more than 2 billion active accounts, followed by Telegram, with almost 1 billion users. Overwhelming figures that cybercriminals know perfectly well.
These two media outlets have been, for several years, in the crosshairs of many smuggling cells that are dedicated to launching offensive and threatening tactics to pressure users and make them find themselves involved in a crossroads that only depends on their power. save yourself
This is where social engineering comes into play, an example of a scam that is based on gaining the trust of its victim in order to obtain the necessary information and appropriate all of their credentials. Their mode of use is to maintain a conversation with the recipient, either by telephone or private chat, although they also only need to send an email impersonating the identity of a well-known company.
In the case of WhatsApp or Telegram, there are many occasions when they have tried to contact you fraudulently, either because you have been selected to deliver a gift that does not exist, because you have been offered a false job or because your child is sending a message that your cell phone has been lost. All of this is based on you clicking a suspicious link to finally install malware or redirect you to a web page to fill out a form with your personal information.
How to fight social engineering?
The OCU emphasizes that, in the not too distant future, Artificial Intelligence will be a double-edged sword for cybercriminals and they will find the most precise way to deceive you and that you will not differentiate what is real from what is false. But if you want to know what are the most effective methods to reject this type of cyber violence and avoid their misdeeds, we summarize them below:
- Try to avoid posting personal information on social media. Hackers can know you very well through your tastes and know how to hit the nail on the head to make you bite.
- Be wary of any issuer that requests your private information, as well as banking information. And if you want to make sure that this communication is real, contact the company directly to verify and contrast it.
