“The scammer was extraordinarily believable,” Kim Sawyer, a former university professor in Melbourne, said. “He had a British accent, used all the right financial market terms and knew how to induce us by appearing credible every time.”
The Sawyers are not an isolated case.
Using sophisticated cyber-tools, artificial intelligence and impersonation techniques, scammers trapped in centres across Southeast Asia have been defrauding victims of their savings for billions of dollars. [AP1] [LG2] .
The victims that scammers target are all over the world and, in many cases, highly educated: the Sawyers both have master’s degrees and are experienced stock market investors.
Partnerships against organised fraud
Though scams are becoming increasingly global, the response to these crimes is also becoming transnational.
Governments, law enforcement agencies, private companies and civil society were…
Review your monthly bank statements and credit card bills line-by-line to spot small “tester” transactions of R5 or R10, which fraudsters use to verify if a stolen card is still active.