social engineering trends
According to a threat report by Avast, the fourth quarter of 2022 saw an increase in threats that use social engineering to steal money, specifically refund and invoice fraud, as well as tech support scams.
“At the end of 2022, we saw an increase in human-centric threats, such as scams that trick people into thinking their computer is infected or that they’ve been charged for products they didn’t order,” says Jakub Kroustek, Avast’s director of malware research.
The specialist also highlights that in the face of these urgent dynamics, people react with feelings typical of human nature, such as fear, which forces them to try to regain control of the problems and that is where cybercriminals succeed.
The scams, the company details, usually start with a pop-up window that warns of a suspected malware infection and invites you to call a helpline to resolve the problem. Attackers convince the caller to establish a remote connection to their computer, opening the door to theft of personal information and money.
