Barbadians are being warned to stay vigilant as a surge of sophisticated phishing scams circulates on social media, luring people aged 18 to 45 with false promises of a $50 000 government grant. Officials and experts urged the public to verify online information and avoid falling prey to cybercriminals.
Phishing involves deceiving people into providing sensitive information, such as personal or financial details, through fraudulent emails, texts, or websites.
In a recorded statement on Monday, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn urged online users not to click on suspicious links they encounter on the Internet or social media.
A WhatsApp message purporting to be from the government has been making the rounds, asking people aged 18 to 45 to click a link to become beneficiaries of a stimulus programme. The message claims unemployed Barbadian citizens are eligible to receive a $50 000 grant to compensate those affected by “a crisis”. It also states that funds have already been distributed.
The programme mentioned in the messages is labelled as the Barbados Youth Empowerment Fund Programme 2024, and the Barbados Coat of Arms is included in the message’s layout.
In response to this phishing attempt, Straughn said: “I simply say to Barbados do not fall victim to misinformation, otherwise known as people telling lies. However, in light of all these scams in recent times, I ask persons not to click the link nor provide any information to these criminals because you do not know the real motives of the persons behind these initiatives.
“Telling lies in of itself is not a crime. However, telling lies to solicit information for unauthorised usage is indeed a crime, especially financial crime. This is just plain old fraud,” he added.
Economist Jeremy Stephen also urged Barbadians to confirm the authenticity of online information from reputable sources before submitting personal data.
He noted that over the past several years, Barbados has become an easy target for attackers and hackers, with this latest development being a continuation of prior incidents.
Economist Jeremy Stephen. (FP)
Stephen said online scams surged significantly after data from the preliminary voters’ list was leaked ahead of the January 2022 election.
He said: “The most valuable thing isn’t the disruption; it is what they are trying to disrupt for, and that is information,” Stephen told Barbados TODAY, referring to various cyberattacks on government agencies, including the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA), the Immigration Department, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and the Barbados Licensing Authority.
“There is a bunch of information like email addresses that would have gone onto the dark web, and people interested would have bought that information and used it to target people in the country. We would be viewed by savvy Internet users as unsophisticated, not being able to identify when a scam.
“They know that these email addresses are for Barbadians; they have an idea of the ages because the ages of the victims would be attached to that voters’ list, BRA, and other government agencies. So in the near term, you should expect that all these scams will continue to happen. It would be wise for the average Bajan to always verify. If you see anything that may appear to be connected to the government, call the Ministry of Finance or the Government Information Service (GIS). Any official government notice is usually issued through them. If GIS cannot confirm that it exists, then it does not.”
Stephen explained that these scams, while not new, have adopted a more modern format and typically involve two stages to gain access to victims’ financial details and account passwords.
“Think of these scams as two-stage attacks.,” he said. “The person (attacker) needs information that is credible and can lead you to a target that is vulnerable. Because of the hacks, the people who were selling the information had valuable data from people in a small country who are unsophisticated when it comes to these types of attacks. Barbadians have never really been victims in this way before, and it is clear the country doesn’t have safeguards set up, even in its government.
“The next step is to make an offer financially and hope that somebody bites. So these scams have always been around. They used to be letters that would pop up in your mailbox back in the day called chain letters. It would ask you to send on the letters, a way to collect addresses to scam people. Then you had the Nigerian prince scam through the postal service before they moved to your email. People would claim to need money, saying they were a Nigerian prince and would pay you back.”
The economist warned Barbadians to expect future scams asking for passwords and employing tactics such as fake password reset requests.
He said: “You may find a few of them, sooner rather than later, sending a password request. They would claim that you have reset a password and get you to click a link, inadvertently giving them the ability to reset your password. It would be redirected to their email, and they could take over your email address. Then they could use that to reset your banking information.”
Noting that scammers often send emails pretending to be from reputable businesses or organisations, Stephen advised using a hardcopy phonebook to verify contact numbers provided in those emails.
He also called for a tighter cybersecurity programme across all government agencies.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
The post Bajans warned of phishing scams appeared first on Barbados Today.
