Cybersecurity is a critical aspect of our increasingly digital world, and fake tech support is a growing threat that can compromise the security of individuals and organizations. It is a modern phenomenon sweeping the nation: Customer care scams on social media. 

Customer care scams typically involve a fraudster posing as a legitimate tech support representative on social media, often through unsolicited messages and mentions regarding a victim’s genuine complaint. 

As more consumers use social media platforms to communicate with businesses, customer service frauds on those channels are becoming more widespread. These fake customer care profiles are set up by fraudsters posing as a company’s official customer care team and contacting clients via social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Twitter as a platform has become a favourite to target end-users with scams like these. 

In addition, customers are duped into providing their personal information, including usernames, passwords, and credit card details, by fraudsters using a variety of strategies. 

How can we deal with customer care scams on social media? 

The solution is two-fold and falls on the two affected parties: The company and the end-users continuously targeted by these scammers. 

Customer care scams on social media can harm a company’s reputation and damage customer trust. Here are some ways that companies can deal with customer care scams on social media: 

1. Educate Customers: Companies can educate customers about the risks of customer care scams and encourage them to verify the authenticity of customer care accounts or messages. Provide clear guidelines on how to identify and report scams. 
2. Monitor Social Media Accounts: Companies can regularly monitor their official social media accounts to detect fraudulent accounts or suspicious activity. You can use social media listening tools to monitor brand mentions and messages and set up notifications for any new account that uses the brand’s name. 
3. Respond Promptly to Customer Complaints: Responding promptly to customer complaints can help to prevent the spread of negative comments or misinformation on social media. If a customer reports a scam, respond to the customer quickly and ask for more details about the fraud. It can help in detecting and stopping the scam. 
4. Report Scams to Social Media Platforms: Companies can report any fraudulent or impersonating accounts to the social media platform and request their removal. Social media platforms typically have tools for reporting scams or corporate catfish accounts. 
5. Take Legal Action: If the scam is causing significant harm to your company or customers, consider taking legal action against the scammers. Seek legal advice to understand the best course of action. 

On the other hand, this is how you can protect yourself from these social media fraudsters as an end-user. 

1. Verify the account: Twitter has removed verification checkmarks, which makes it a nightmare to determine which profiles are legitimate or not. In this case it’s best to err on caution and only interact with verified accounts available on the company’s website. If not, you can then check if the account has many followers, if it’s new/ recently created, or if the activity level seems low.  
2. Check the handle and URL: Scammers often use handles and URLs like popular companies’ existing customer-care accounts. They might add additional underscores or spelling. For example, a scam account for our official Twitter page @CyberXAfrica might appear as @Cyber_XAfrica. It’s a very deceptive tactic that might fool you if you don’t take the extra step to double-check the handle or URL to ensure it is correct and matches the company’s official website. 
3. Do not click on links: Scammers often include links to malicious websites or ask you to click a link to resolve the issue. Only click on links if you know the customer care account is legitimate. 
4. Be wary of unsolicited messages: Scammers often send unsolicited messages, claiming to be from customer care. If you receive a message that you did not initiate or did not expect, be cautious and do not provide any personal information. It’s a trap! 
5. Check the grammar and spelling: Check for poor grammar and spelling mistakes in their messages to you and be very suspicious if you notice any. Do not engage with the profile anymore. This is a tactic we also look out for when it comes to Business Email Compromise scams.
6. Use official channels: If you have a query or complaint and navigating through fake customer care profiles is too much of a headache at this point, use the company’s official channels, such as their official website or customer care phone number. 
7. Report suspicious accounts: If you suspect an account is fraudulent, immediately report it to the social media platform. 

Generally, companies must be proactive and prevent customer care scams on social media. Educating customers, monitoring social media accounts, responding promptly to customer complaints, and taking legal action can all help to protect your brand’s reputation and customers’ trust. However, we should also use social media cautiously and be aware of today’s necessary risks. Remember: When in doubt, always err on the side of caution!