Scams moved from the street to the online system

Cybersecurity experts are warning of a situation that arises as a result of the pandemic and that they have dubbed ‘mutant scams’. These are frauds that before Covid-19 were committed at street level and that have now made the leap into the virtual world, after the criminals have recycled. A “digital transformation of crime” that is here to stay, as reported by Trend Micro.

The cybersecurity company insists that “crime has been able to adapt. Many scams in the real world were no longer possible because criminals were locked in along with their potential victims. In response, they went digital to tranform into cyber scams. This evolution was similar to the digital transformation that mainstream companies had to undergo in 2020″, say the experts.

According to a recent Trend Micro survey, 88 % of companies accelerated their migrations to the cloud in the past year. Digital transformation plans were advanced in response to the pandemic, and scammers took advantage of this boom in online commerce and payments. A report by the company details that “victims around the world have lost millions to these renewed scams.”

The target are the technologies and activities that have become popular during the pandemic, as José de la Cruz, technical director of Trend Micro Iberia, warns. He classifies them into four categories: online shopping, food delivery apps, messaging apps and state aid.

Based on the fraud identified, the company warns that criminal groups “can improve and adapt their modus operandi very quickly. This shows that both citizens and companies must be prepared for the uncertain and learn to protect themselves from digital threats”, add these cybersecurity experts, who offer a series of recommendations to help users avoid being victims.

K. Tovar

Source: dpa