Understanding how to spot a scam and knowing tactics that criminals use are paramount when staying safe against cybercrime.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, IFW Global’s Executive Chairman Ken Gamble revealed fraudsters cybercrime techniques and shared tips and tricks on how to detect a scam. Read the full article on the Al Jazeera website.

Al Jazeera: You’ve uncovered an international scam originating in the Philippines, involving people around the world losing millions of dollars. How do the fraudsters convince people to hand over large sums of money?

Ken Gamble: The fraudsters use cleverly prepared scripts and high-pressure cold-calling techniques to get the confidence of the victims. Once they have the victim’s confidence, they lure them into bogus deals involving the purported purchase of stocks and shares that are on the rise. The victims believe that everything is real and therefore start investing.

Al Jazeera: What tactics do they use?

Ken Gamble: The fraudsters imitate large successful financial advisory firms and self-publish fake news headlines about their success. They mimic office telephone numbers from major financial hubs such as London or Hong Kong, when in reality they are operating from a VOIP (e.g. Skype) system inside an apartment in Manila, the Philippines. They cleverly mask their real locations and use very professional, slick-looking websites, with bogus testimonials, high-quality marketing literature, business cards, logos, and a fictitious company history to convince investors of their legitimacy, which is all an illusion created by clever criminals.