Online scams and frauds reaching alarming levels, FIU warns |22 May 2018

The local financial watchdog, the Seychelles Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has expressed concerns in regards to an increase in online scams and frauds over the past two years.

From 2017 until now, FIU has recorded 19 official cases of online scams, which have amounted to a value topping R18 million.

In an interview with the local media yesterday, FIU’s director, Philip Moustache, said this figure is alarming and that they are actually recording cases regularly.  Mr Moustache stated that the sum identified does not represent the whole amount, mainly due to the fact that not all cases are brought to their attention, and not everyone is comfortable to come forward to report any losses.

These have prompted a warning from the FIU to the local public about the dangers of falling prey to online scammers such as through emails and social media accounts on Facebook.

Mr Moustache added that the main perpetrators of these scams have been traced back to Nigeria and, although the FIU have approached its Nigerian counterparts, not much can be done on their side since the fraudsters make use of internet cafés for their cybercrimes.

He further stated that the official estimated figure of R18 million that scammers have defrauded Seychellois of highlights the need to address this issue through public education.

Online scams made its headway in the Seychelles in 2009, explained Mr Moustache, with 419s or Advance Fee Fraud which are scam emails involving promising the victim a large sum of money in return for a comparatively smaller up-front payment.

As technology have become more sophisticated and people more internet-savvy, the scams have evolved in various other innovative ways.

Those encountered by the FIU include inheritance scams wherein victims are contacted by fraudsters with false promises of an inheritance in order to trick the victim in parting with their money, supposedly for the purpose of legal or processing fees.

Also popular are romance scams wherein victims -- of which FIU has noted to be mostly females -- are approached via social media sites such as Facebook or Skype by potential suitors using stolen identities who feign romantic intentions in return for money.

Mr Moustache recounted an incident where a Seychellois woman was scammed into sending money for wedding preparations: “She was told that the wedding ring, which had been dispatched from the UK, had been caught in transit in Malaysia and hence she needed to send money over to resolve the issue. This was not true as there is a direct flight from the UK to the Seychelles so the package should not be transiting in Malaysia.”

FIU has also encountered cases of online extortion whereby victims develop close relationships with their scammers who convince them to remove some of their clothes and conduct certain actions such as dance seductively.

“The victims are unknowingly filmed and next thing they know they are being threatened that the videos will be leaked if they do not pay certain large amounts of money,” Mr Moustache explained.

The local business community has also been hit with these online frauds as some business persons have received emails from fraudsters masquerading as their usual suppliers.

“Their emails are hacked -- and this refers specifically to when they are supposed to be making payments to suppliers -- and the fraudsters give them fresh instructions to pay to a different bank account and the money ends up being lost.”

In these types of cases FIU has advised businesses to verify the e-mail address, call the supplier for verification, and encrypt their email accounts.

FIU is also advising the public to be wary of online loans and scholarships, lottery notifications, friend requests from unknown individuals, offers on online shopping and mobile phone texts from suspicious foreign numbers.