How To Prevent Scams In Business - CIOReview

According to CIOReview scam has been on the rise during the pandemic and businesses needs to be aware of these scams and take preventive measure to safeguard the business from this scam. During the pandemic, The scams have been on the rise and business needs to know how they can stay away or prevent themselves from scam attacks. CIOReview in an article describes the 4 major types of scams that are on the rise and how one can prevent them along with the help of technology. Scammers have been using the best technologies trying to break the network and attack businesses and one needs a more powerful tool like Artificial Intelligence that will detect the scams as early as possible. 

Most Dangerous Scams In The Industry 

Scams have been around for many years. It was prevalent in olden days as well. Today, old scams have reached the next level with the blessings of modern technology that makes it affordable and convenient for perpetrators for targeting a significant number of victims. The following is a rundown of some of the examples of the latest scams fueled by modern technology.

1. Caller ID Spoofing

Earlier, Caller ID was able to inform who was calling reliably. These days, scammers, using cheap technology, generally spoof the Caller ID, which shows a fake number or fake business appearing on the person’s Caller ID display. Scammers might spoof their calling number for committing other hosts of scams.

2. Phishing

This is a widespread email and internet scam which occurs when a scammer tempts the user into divulging private account information. The scammer might ask the user to confirm their account information by posing as the user’s bank. If the user confirms it, the information is misused by scammers for making unauthorized charges or even committing the crime of identity theft. Phishers hold the ability to send hundreds of emails for pennies on the dollar. If even one user bites, the fraudsters make money.

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3. Fake Check Scams

In this type of scam, the user receives a real-looking check, which is actually a fake one. The technology empowers the scammer to print thousands of counterfeit checks that look authentic at low prices. The user is instructed to deposit the check and wire some money to the scammer. The check bounces after it gets deposited; however, the user cannot retrieve the money as the scammer has already received it.

The scam, too, has diverse flavors. In some scenarios, a person who posts an item for sale online becomes the target of the scammer. The scammer will buy the product and send a fake check in a high amount, telling the seller to send back the overpayment. In another case, the scammer can send a fake check as a phony prize-winning and then instruct the user to wire back some money for taxes.

4. Forged Cell Phone Text Messages

These days, scammers send forged text messages to users’ cell phones. The message might offer a product for a monthly fee, usually $9.99. On opting out and declining the product, the user may find unauthorized charges on his/her phone bill.

The bottom line is that the companies, as well as every individual, should be aware of all the scams happening around them. They should confirm twice before releasing any private information.

4 Best Ways To Prevent Business Scams

The scam is one of the most common ways that businesses lose money. But they can take steps to avoid being the victim of fraud and scams. Scammers adapt their means almost as rapidly as cyber-security firms create new products and services. It is almost impossible to guard against every type of scam. However, various measures to take to help safeguard the business against scammers, cybercriminals, and identity thieves. Here are some techniques enterprises can incorporate into their business practices.

1. Performing Security Audit

It is daunting for companies to know how to protect against scams if their representatives aren't aware of the respective problem areas. Undergoing a security audit allows the cybersecurity experts at a business to decide where the weak points exist. Patching vulnerable points can make it less likely for scammers to carry out online fraud, such as malware that demands a ransom paid to restore file access.

Implementing Strong Password Policy

An enterprise-wide password policy can help in protecting businesses from scams. That's because scammers can do more damage and enjoy a further reach when they have passwords at their disposal versus when they don't. Besides setting strong passwords that are long enough and do not use easy words, employees also should realize it is not safe to share passwords with colleagues or use the same passwords across many sites.

2. Creating a Secure Entry

A secure entry system can keep out unwanted, malicious visitors. Some key-card systems offer time-stamped records of an employee's entries and exits from the offices. Additionally, management can limit access to specific areas to particular people. For instance, firms can use a key card system to only allow the IT managers inside the server room. Limiting access to sensitive areas keeps businesses safer.

3. Improving Employee Education

The fighting scam is a team effort, which means it should take a top-down method where the company leaders prioritize it and encourage them to follow suit. Making that happen begins with training all employees to know what might constitute a scam. If employees know warning signs of online scams, they should find that it is easier to avoid them and report unusual correspondences to their workplaces.

How Artificial Intelligence Can Be Used to Fight Against Scam

Spam is very easy to spot. However, AI is offering more powerful tools every other day to produce deceptive content, including video and text involuntarily. The full implications are impossible to predict. However, it can be speculated that the consequences are going to get worse with increasing technological capabilities.

Usage of AI for spam

The early signs of spammers using AI are creating spoof emails for generating communication that is virtually indistinguishable from genuine communication.

The rise of AI comes through various avenues, and spammers can exploit all of them. Neural networks can read messages, comprehend the context of a picture, and also write believable text all without human interference, so spammers are able to create more realistic and customized messages, which are hard to distinguish from legitimate mail.

However, after a span of supervision, the AI can also tailor the phishing messages to imitate the message style of the victim to specific contacts in their address book for convincing them to click a malicious link.

Spammers can also build deepfakes with AI in which digitally generated or altered images and videos appear to be real. In some cases, the content is an entirely fake person who is handy for an avatar for a forged social account. However, the same idea can be utilized in pictures or text for making spam particularly tailored for a user.

Combating spam with AI

The best part is, our experts in the tech industry to have access to AI.

Google has been using neural networks for a long time for spotting spam, thus bringing its spam detection’s self-reported rate to 99.9 percent. Google’s TensorFlow has helped in blocking image-based text, emails with hidden embedded content, and text from recently created domains that intend to conceal the low amount of fake messages within legitimate traffic.

Following Google, Twitter also purchased a startup called Fabula AI for helping social media service in using AI to fight against spam and abuse.

Moreover, there are also some other automated, intelligent systems for battling against spam, which includes New Zealand security firm Netsafes: scam, a chatbot that makes use of AI in order to reply to the spammers for eating up their time and driving up costs.

Observing the scale of the problem, automated protections are the key to winning the fight against spam. Since it is a very big problem for humans to manage, it is the perfect place to put AI to work.

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