Social engineering fraud refers to the scams used by criminals to exploit a person's trust to get access to confidential information or money. It's all about using your behaviour and what you share with the world against you. Humans are the weakest link in any security chain.

Social media seems to be the preferred channel, but some fraudsters do also contact people through phishing, vishing and smishing. It's important to be very aware of what you share online and with the world, do not share personal or confidential information or events publicly. This gives fraudsters a front-row seat to your life.

Be aware

You should always be suspicious of unsolicited emails, messages and calls. Fraudsters will use the information they have access to in order to gain your trust, trick you into taking action or giving out your information. They cleverly scan your behaviour to track what they think will work on you - whether that's a courier scam, a message from your bank, or an ad from a fake website based on a link you clicked on.

As always, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!

Tips

• Check your permission and security settings on your online accounts and your device - YOU control what you put out there.
• Make sure you have strong passwords.
• Change your passwords regularly.
• Have different passwords for all your accounts and profiles.
• Check the terms and conditions of giveaways, apps that your download, free filters etc.
• Free WiFi sounds great but it's not necessarily safe and what's the catch? Use a VPN and read the terms and conditions.
• Make sure your security software is up to date on your devices.
• Set sensible limits on your banking app.
• Do not download and install mobile applications from unknown developers or institutions, especially if it is not on a trusted app store.

Do your part. Do not share too much information about your personal life.

Meta shares some basic tools to protect yourself when using your social media platforms.

You are the only person who should be able to access and control your accounts. It's important that you never share your login details with others and use different and strong passwords for each account on any Meta technology.

You can also find more useful information on Meta's Anti-Scam Hub here.

Stop. Think. Don't get scammed!