Beware Of Voucher Fraud When Shopping Online, Here's How To Avoid It

Social engineering is still one of the most used ways criminals, which aim to commit fraud, by persuading or manipulating victims.

The Brand Manager of PT Pembiayaan Digital Indonesia (Ada Kami), Jonathan Kriss, reminded the public to always be careful when carrying out activities in cyberspace.

In today's digital era, Jonathan said that one of the loopholes that social engineering actors often use is the habit of people uploading product reviews after shopping online.

For example, information such as name and phone number can be seen clearly when uploading videos or product review photos. This data is very vulnerable to the use of social engineering actors," explained Jonathan.

Social Engineering Mode on E-commerce

Jonathan said, there are at least two social engineering modes that are currently booming and targeting online shopping customers, especially in e-commerce.

The first mode is that after the perpetrator finds out the victim's name and phone number, they will lure attractive offers such as cashback, voucher, or bonuses also known as baiting.

The perpetrator deceived the victim by sending a fake official document and offering a voucher, but required downloading an online loan application. The victim was directed to apply for a loan, then asked to transfer the funds to the perpetrator's account with the promise of returning along with a voucher.

In addition, there is also another mode that usually targets product reviewers in e-commerce. This time, apart from persuasion, the perpetrator also threatens the victim by conveying that the uploaded product review violates the regulations and will be subject to sanctions.

The perpetrator convinced the victim to shop on his e-commerce account using the victim's buy now pay later service limit, on the pretext of avoiding sanctions, so that the perpetrators could get money from the transaction.

When the victim does not have or runs out of paylater limit, the perpetrator directs to apply for a loan on the lender platform. When the loan is disbursed, the victim will be directed to transfer to the perpetrator's account.

Tips To Avoid Fraud

Seeing the rampant fraud, Ada We share a number of tips that can be done when receiving suspicious information: