Scambusters: Anatomy of a scam - why it’s called phishing

Name: The Scambusters: Anatomy of a scam
Uploaded: 2024-02-19T11:45:20+13:00
Duration: 119 s
Description: ASB technology and operations executive general manager David Bullock explains how a common phishing scam works. Video / Dean Purcell

By Jaime Lyth

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

12 Mar, 2024 04:02 PM5 mins to read

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ASB technology and operations executive general manager David Bullock explains how a common phishing scam works. Video / Dean Purcell

A Global Anti-Scam Alliance study found that 68 per cent of Kiwis are very confident that they can recognise scams. However, 17 per cent of Kiwis reported losing money in a scam, with an average loss of $3165. The number of Kiwis falling victim to fraud is sharply increasing as scams become more sophisticated, and fraud is now the most common type of offence overall. How do we learn to recognise real from fake in an increasingly digital world?

Even your very basic personal information might be the gateway for a scammer to wreak havoc, says a banking expert.

ASB executive general manager of technology and operations David Bullock says most scams begin with a request or the theft of personal information.

“The reason it’s called phishing as an example is because they’re dropping hooks into the water and seeing who will bite.

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“Then they’re trying to reel those people in and it gets more complicated as they hook a person or convince a person that they are who they say they are.”

Bullock said this can be as simple as a name, address and/or phone number. Once you are contactable, scammers may try different ways to bait you into providing more information.

“Scamming often comes from identity theft in some form or fashion.

“So often through a text with a link or an email etc, a scammer will be requesting you to provide some details to them, then they’re going to use those details and probably harvest more information on the internet or social media about you,” Bullock says.

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ASB technology and operations executive general manager David Bullock gives a detailed, blow-by-blow analysis of a common scam. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Scammers are finding increasingly diverse ways to harvest information from people.

New Zealand accommodation providers on Booking.com had their accounts hacked recently, and phishing emails were sent to customers through the website’s internal messaging system.

So while the message appeared to be coming from their accommodation provider through an email from Booking.com, the content of the message was phishing material from scammers asking for an extra payment.

Incidents of the same scam targeting different accommodation providers on different websites have been reported around the world.

“So they’re tricking you [into thinking] that they are someone who they’re not and then convincing you to pass money through to them,” Bullock said.

Other scams involve building trust with the victim over time or putting pressure and urgency on someone who might be vulnerable.

“They can sometimes go through multiple calls to convince [someone] something.

“... that could either be a fake investment, it could be getting an inheritance, it could be paying money to a friend.

“There’s all different ways, but it all comes down to social engineering.”

Bullock said there are a few ways people can determine whether a message is legit or a scam.

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“If you’re getting a text message with a link, it’s best to not use that link and [instead] go to the official website... or call the particular institution to make sure that’s correct.”

The New Zealand Banking Association (NZBA) announced in September that New Zealand banks would remove all links sent to customers via texts.

“Scammers often use weblinks or hyperlinks in text messages to gain access to people’s bank accounts. To help reduce this kind of scam risk, banks have committed to removing links from texts to customers,” NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said.

In a campaign aimed at raising scam awareness, the NZBA asked people to “take a sec to check” before they part with their money or personal information.

“So actually stop and go, ‘how am I going to check that this is actually legitimate,’ and you should be treating all of these conversations text messages as not legitimate until proven legitimate,” Bullock said.

Last year a text scam impersonating the police claimed the recipients were entitled to a “refund” using a URL similar to one people might expect police to use.

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NZ police confirmed the texts were part of a fake campaign.

“There’s actually scams that are out there and, as terrible as it sounds, where scammers will contact people they know have been victims of scams and say ‘hey, we’ve actually managed to figure out we can get your money back’.

“‘If you can just pay us 10 per cent of the amount that you’ve lost, we can go and investigate for you and find that money and get it back to you’,” Bullock said.

Fraud and cybercrime have a high record of repeat victims, with 55,000 repeat victims, making up 11 per cent of all victims of scamming, according to the Ministry of Justice New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey.