Kaspersky: 7% of Nigerian Internet Users Affected by Phishing in 2022

In 2022, phishing affected 7% of Nigerian internet users, according to a statement released on Thursday by leading antivirus company Kaspersky.

Phishing is the activity of sending emails or messages to people or businesses in an effort to get them to divulge sensitive information that will later be utilized for evil.

According to Kaspersky analysts, phishing was used by cybercriminals more frequently in 2022, the business stated.

A large portion of the phishing was financial phishing, which aims to cause victims to lose money.

The company reported that of the financial phishing attempts in Nigeria, 31.1% were made through phony payment system websites, 51.2% through phony online retailers, and 17.8% through phony bank portal websites.

Read Kaspersky’s complete statement below.

In 2022, 8.7% of users in Africa experienced phishing assaults, and there were more than 500 million incidents worldwide. According to Kaspersky analysts, phishing was used by cybercriminals more frequently in 2022.

In 2022, Kaspersky’s (www.Kaspersky.co.za) anti-phishing system globally stopped more than 500 million attempts to reach phony websites. When compared to 2021 statistics, this is two times more. 8.7% of individuals and business users in Africa were victims of phishing attacks, which were discovered and prevented. Nigeria comes in third with 7% of users affected, Kenya comes in second with 8.4%, and South Africa has 9.7% of people affected. Kaspersky’s Spam and Phishing in 2022 study provides comprehensive information on the state of spam and phishing globally.

Although while phishing and spam attacks are not always technologically advanced, they rely on sophisticated social engineering techniques that make them extremely harmful for individuals who are unaware of them. Fraudsters are adept at developing phishing websites that look just like the legitimate websites they steal personal information from or urge the transfer of money to. According to Kaspersky analysts, phishing was used by cybercriminals more frequently in 2022. 507,851,735 attempts to access fraudulent content were effectively rejected by the company’s anti-phishing technology in 2022, more than double the amount of attacks stopped in 2021.

Delivery services were the industry most commonly the subject of phishing attempts. Fraudsters send false emails claiming to be from well-known delivery services and to report a delivery issue. The email contains a link to a bogus website that requests money or personal information. If the victim falls for the fraud, they risk losing their identity and having their banking details sold to dark web websites.

Online shops and financial services were the most frequently targeted industries for financial phishing. 15.4% of financial phishing efforts in South Africa used fake payment system websites, 68.4% used fake online retailers, and 16.2% used fake bank portal websites.

22.5% of financial phishing efforts in Kenya used fake payment system websites, 54.9% used fake online retailers, and 22.6% used fake bank portal websites. Also, 31.1% of financial phishing attempts in Nigeria were made using phony payment system websites, followed by phony online store websites (51.2%) and phony bank websites (17.8%).

The 2022 phishing scene will see a surge in the dissemination of attacks through messengers, with the bulk of stopped attempts coming from WhatsApp, followed by Telegram and Viber, according to Kaspersky analysts.

Cybercriminals are also becoming more and more interested in social media credentials. By presenting phony updates and verified account status on social media platforms, they prey on people’s curiosity and desire for privacy.

Also, the analysts discovered that phishing attackers continue to utilize cryptocurrency schemes and market catastrophes like the pandemic to acquire sensitive information from consumers who are scared and concerned. These con artists are stealing sensitive information by preying on people’s anxieties and insecurities.

“One of the most pervasive and dangerous threats in the cybersecurity world is phishing. Phishing pages are the beginning of a long chain of events that can lead to identity theft, financial loss, and reputational harm for both individual customers and corporations since they are the entry point to many of the greatest cyber dangers. Everyone must be aware of the danger and take precautions to stay safe, says Olga Svistunova, a security expert with Kaspersky.

Kaspersky experts suggest the following to prevent falling victim to spam or phishing-based scams:
Only click links in emails if you are certain you can trust the sender.