This winter has given South Africans plenty of reasons to shop online. Bafana Bafana’s recent performance at the FIFA World Cup pushed fans towards digital channels for tickets, replica jerseys and World Cup memorabilia, while the Springboks opened their inaugural Nations Championship campaign at home against England, Scotland and Wales. The winter calendar is packed with global football and home rugby tests, and this is pushing more fan purchases, meal orders and household shopping through digital channels and delivery apps. There are more evenings where South Africans are waiting for a driver, a courier or a delivery notification – distracted by scores and the TV.
And every one of these deliveries opens up a moment of risk that fraudsters have learned to exploit using tools and methods that are increasingly clever and sophisticated.
One of the increasingly popular ways of scamming people in South Africa right now is with fake SMS messages, and this has gained momentum alongside the arrival of the Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu. The messages are designed to tie in with how you’re informed of customs charges – the logistics company sends a message with the outstanding amount and provides a link for payment.
Now the scammers have mimicked these messages but added small amounts so consumers don’t feel overwhelmed. It’s easy to fall for these messages because they’re written well, they offer a plausible amount of detail, and they include the right kind of details. But when you complete the information, you are simply giving scammers all your details, which they then use for card-not-present fraud.
These messages are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from the real thing, especially now as scammers are building cloned pages with the correct logos and polished language, often routing the messages through both SMS and WhatsApp channels.
Detecting this risk comes down to catching small details hidden in the messages, and these details can be very easily overlooked when you’re in a rush or distracted. Always check the website URL when you are directed away from your SMS or WhatsApp channel. Is it a realistic address – check the address of the company independently of the message – or does it have some strange numbers and letters in it? Is there a contact page?
When the URL is patchy, and the contact page is missing or half empty, that’s usually a sign that it’s been created by a fraudster.
Email presents a slightly different risk. It is still a legitimate communication channel for couriers and delivery companies as they often send order confirmations, tracking updates and delivery notices via email. And these emails are high quality, with minimal spelling mistakes and clear formatting and beautifully copied logos and signatures. It’s very hard to tell the real from the fake unless you look very closely at the email address itself and/or the link it is directing you to.
Regardless of the channel these scammers use, the real damage is done when you go to the page they are redirecting you to. Attackers run these scams with the precision of a small production line, timing messages and mirroring the exact language of real delivery workflows, such as order shipped notifications and tracking links. When you fill in your details, you hand them everything they need to carry out additional transactions on your card.
Detecting and deflecting these scams needs to become as much a habit as locking your front doors and double-checking that your car is locked when parked to prevent car jamming. Always check the actual web address before entering any personal information and, if you’re still not sure, consider contacting the courier or retailer directly through a known number or application before you respond to the message itself.
Over the next few months, these risks are only going to get worse with online shopping growing more popular thanks to sporting events and special offers. Check everything before you spend, and just pause for one moment before you click on any link in an SMS because awareness is one of the best ways to stay secure online.
