FinCSIRT warns against phishing sites, pulls down 50 fake websites
Sri Lanka’s fake websites and phishing game have scaled up in numbers. The Financial Sector Computer Security Incident Response Team (FinCSIRT), a part of Lanka Pay, has pulled down at least 50 fake phishing websites defrauding the gullible public, a top official said.
“These scams have been there for some time. We have noticed them scaling up in the past few months. Many phishing attacks have been reported to us,” Channa De Silva, CEO FinCSIRT and Director Lanka Pay told The Sunday Times Business. He noted that replicas of Internet banking sites in eight major banks were also among those websites pulled down last month.
Despite the work being done, Mr. De Silva stressed that the battle against the fraudsters is long and hard. “Some of these sites that were pulled down have come up with different names and we are working on pulling them down again. It is a continuous battle.” He advised to check the URL of the particular banking site when logging in and doing a transaction to combat these fake sites.
Mr. De Silva added that complaints of WhatsApp investment groups have also been flooding in. “These groups add members and request them to pay a nominal amount to cash in on double that investment. This happens for the first few rounds and the group admins demand a higher investment. The gullible members do so and either they are removed immediately from the WhatsApp group or they are told that the investment had not been received and to resend it. When this is done, they are removed from the WhatsApp group or the calls are not answered.”
Mr. De Silva noted that the FinCSIRT had carried out an anti-scam campaign for the past six months with the help of the Central Bank. “Despite all this, the fraudsters are 10 steps ahead of us. This is why an intensive awareness campaign is needed. Especially with the new digitalisation drive of the government, the public needs to be aware of the possible malware and fake sites out there.” He also warned against fake sites being downloaded with malware on the phones. “These can control your phone from elsewhere, so much so that they can even dim the lights or the screen in the phone.” He advised to never download an app on the phone except from a reputable App Store
He also noted that 5-minute loans and lotteries have also been promoted on websites as well as WhatsApp groups. “These must be immediately reported to us.” The FinCSIRT Chief said that despite popular belief, most who get caught are from the rural areas, engineers, bankers and many upper middle-class gullible consumers have also been defrauded.
The Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), the parent organisation of FinCSIRT issued a warning recently regarding an increase in fraudulent messages circulating on social media and communication platforms, notably WhatsApp.
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