Scammed? Share your story to help others

Scammers' tactics are getting more sophisticated and anyone can be caught off guard. By sharing your story, you might spare someone else the financial and emotional stress caused by scams and other cyberthreats.

For illustrative purposes only. Image by Leejoann from Pixabay

The work we've been doing at NetSavvy over the past few months has confirmed over and over again that anyone can fall victim to an online or telephone scam, regardless of their age or how smart or tech-savvy they are.

I personally know of people in every age group – from 20- to 80-somethings – who have lost their hard-earned money in various scams ranging from a few hundred South African rand up to R150 000 (about US$9 300). And that's only people I either know personally, or family or friends of people I know well.

The second thing that's becoming apparent to me is that scam victims are often ashamed to talk about their experiences. My own mother, who is a smart woman whom I love dearly (I hope she reads this), took years to tell me she fell for a Facebook scam. People often blame themselves and feel embarrassed, not realising they are not alone.

And they really are not alone. In a study by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance in which 46 000 adults from 42 countries worldwide took part, almost a quarter (23%) of the participants indicated that they lost money in scams in the 12 months leading up to March 2025. Let that sink in. That is one in four people losing money in a scam in one year.

In South Africa alone, almost 100 000 instances of digital banking fraud were reported in 2024 (up 86% from 2023), with losses amounting to close to R1.9 billion. I've mentioned these numbers in a blog before, but I believe they are worth repeating. According to the Annual Crime Statistics 2024 report of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), these incidents included AI-driven scams, phishing campaigns, and deepfake-enabled impersonations that help criminals exploit human error to gain access to unsuspecting bank customers’ banking apps or online banking accounts. Criminals use clever manipulation tactics to obtain victims’ PINs and passwords or to convince them to approve transactions, not realising they are being scammed.

Scams are becoming more and more sophisticated. "Emerging technologies, particularly generative artificial intelligence (AI), have been leveraged by criminals to craft more sophisticated fraud schemes", states SABRIC's report. I've seen emails that look so legit that I might have fallen for them myself if it wasn't for my background in working with dis- and misinformation and knowing what to be on the lookout for.

At NetSavvy, we believe the only ones who benefit from people not talking about their scam experiences, are the scammers themselves. By sharing what we've gone through, we can learn from each other and become aware of the warning signs to look out for. We've created a survey for anyone who has ever come across or fell for a scam, or whose online accounts or devices have been hacked, to share their story.

By sharing your experiences with us, we can use them as case studies in our training and awareness campaigns to help others keep themselves and their money safe. We'll appreciate your input – whether you realised someone was trying to scam you and managed to prevent it or if you were scammed and only now, in hindsight, know what you could have done differently. Your story might just end up sparing someone else the financial and emotional stress caused by scams and other cyberthreats.

Complete the survey

At NetSavvy, we make internet safety understandable and equip internet users with the skills to identify false information, protect their privacy, and stay safe online – ultimately helping them to keep their personal information away from criminals and their money in their bank accounts. We offer workshops and educational talks for people with different levels of digital literacy and of all ages – from teenagers, students and professionals to older adults. Get in touch if you would like us to do a workshop for your staff, students, circle of friends or for residents at a retirement village.