A recently uncovered Craigslist rental scam was revealed to be the work of Nigerian swindlers.
A woman recently listed her home on a real estate company on Craigslist. The woman from the Southampton neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, was lucky, authorities say. The woman called the police on a suspicious man who showed up wanting to rent the house. Police quickly confirmed that it was a Nigerian scam.
Online transaction websites like Craigslist are teeming with scammers, security analysts warn. They are becoming popular sources to fraudsters because of the wealth of potential victims available on a single website. The authorities came back from the incident with a warning to people who advertise on similar platforms. People are too trusting and put too much information on their listings, they said. Scammers use that information to perpetrate well-organized scams for financial gain. They often succeed because they are provided with a lot of personal information that they use in sophisticated social engineering attacks.Sam Dotson, Police Chief at the St. Louis station says, “When you engage in a transaction on the internet, know who’s on the other side of that…”
Nigeria has long been home to a variety of online fraudsters. They are getting more dangerous, security analysts say, evolving from simple phishing scams to very sophisticated social engineering scams and financial theft. Not only individuals are at risk, but businesses and the government as well. These scammers possess a battery of weapons designed for the specific purpose of stealing valuable information for the perpetration of organized online financial theft. They no longer work alone and in small groups but are networked in large cyber crime rings.
The country itself is plagued by online terrorists and thieves. But the Nigerian authorities have put little towards efforts to stop them. This poses an even greater risk to the criminals’ targets as they are virtually free to operate in their country. It is also a vicious cycle. The dangerous online environment has put off investors and companies previously interested in outsourcing arrangements. This reduced revenue has crippled the Nigerian economy. They are now even less able to put up the security task force needed to combat the rising cyber threat. If the trend continues, Nigeria’s economic growth will be retarded by decades, experts predict.
As in many countries around the world, the youth form the bulk of the cyber crime populationin Nigeria. Many are unemployed and this makes thievery behind the safety of online anonymity all the more appealing to them. Last year, Nigerian cyber thieves took about 1.25 trillion naira from individuals and SMEs.
Currently, anyone is a potential victim of cyber theft. The best defense that individuals have is online security for their personal data. VPNs are rising in popularity as effective security tools that protect personal data from malicious individuals. Encryption technology codes data sent over the Internet. Private tunnels secure the data as it travels. And VPN servers act as a hub from which nothing can be traced back to the subscriber.
Choosing a VPN service to shield personal data from scammers is not an easy task. There are so many providers that selecting the best service can be confusing. Our analysts are keen on making sure only the best security is available to users. This is why they have taken the time and used their expertise to come up with detailed reviews and a list of the top 5 VPN providers. The list is provided free of charge to help users find the services that best suit their particular circumstances. The world of cyber crime is expanding at an alarming rate, and personal online security is the best defense people have.
