Educating Your Customers on Cyberfraud & How Carrier Billing Can Help

Since the pandemic, and indeed leading up to it, we have seen a significant rise in the amount of time spent online. Whether shopping, gaming, listening to music or watching on-demand videos your customers are increasingly spending their spare time on their mobile phones. However, along with the increase of screentime we have seen more people falling victim to cybercrime. The cybercriminal is becoming savvier with each new scam, with businesses and customers falling victim to their schemes. Therefore it is important  to educate our customers and make them aware of the simple measures that should be taken to prevent fraud.

The Stats Speak for Themselves

Wealth Magazine published an article accessed in 2022, based on data collected across the cybersphere. In this article they highlighted some key stats, which demonstrate the growth of cybercrime;

• Arbose Labs had detected and prevented 1.1 billion fraud attacks per day during the first half of 2020
• The Consumer Sentinel Network Book (2019) found that there were 1.7 million fraud reports in 2019, which equated to $1.9 billion in losses
• McAfee Labs Covid-19 Threats Report stated that they had detected 375 malware attacks per minute

The numbers speak for themselves, cybercriminals are out there waiting to prey on the digitally vulnerable, which may be your customer, who Net Guardian refer to as the weakest link in the security chain. As such, we should strengthen this link by educating customers on how to recognise scams, malware links and protect their data.

Combating Cybercrime

Digital devices are the back door that cybercriminals could use to enter customers’ lives and cause fraudulent activity through access to their finance apps, gaming, music and on-demand video profiles, further opening up the risk for other users through sophisticated Phishing and Malware scams via these profiles. As such, it is important to educate users on best practices when it comes to their digital security both for themselves and your business. These best practices include, but are not limited to:

• Keeping device software up-to-date to ensure bug fixes are implemented
• Encouraging good password habits – using a combo of letters, numbers and symbols
• Ensuring they do not share login details with other users via a phishing scam
• Highlighting when and how you would ask for account details, if ever
• Providing details on how to reach your organisation should an issue arise
• Teaching users how to recognise a malicious link
• Clear guidance on what to do if they believe their account is compromised

This knowledge will not guarantee that the customer will not fall victim to cybercrime, but will go a long way in helping them to recognise the signs.

How Can Direct Carrier Billing Help?

Whilst education is an important tool in securing our businesses and staying ahead of fraudsters, we should look at other tools that could help further secure our customer’s personal information. This includes direct carrier billing as a payment option for your business.

Direct carrier billing enables the user to pay just using their mobile phone number, therefore keeping their payment data secure as they never have to share  it with you. This adds a layer of protection for the customer as no card details or other payment information is required.

In addition to carrier billing being a secure and convenient payment option, SLA Digital also take several measures to prevent fraud within carrier billing including implementing spending limits for customers and using fraud detection features on our checkouts.  We also partner with fraud prevention software companies who are experts in their field to ensure we are giving our clients and their customer’s the best protection.  This helps protect you and helps to strengthen your weakest link. Talk to us today for more information.