Consumer Social Intelligence Report 2023
Key Marketing Opportunities
Indonesia | 01 Aug 2023 - 30 Sept 2023
1. Educate all consumers about the common scam tactics used on WhatsApp.
People were concerned and shared warnings about differing scams that are carried out via WhatsApp. Identity theft and phishing were the most dominant topics in the Fraud Types conversation (84% of Fraud Types conversation, 13K posts), with notable examples such as the digital wallet scam being carried out on WhatsApp. Other victims also shared their experiences of being tricked on the platform. Targets also shared screenshots of ”fake invite” scams attempted on WhatsApp.
While banks and financial institutions may not want to call out WhatsApp specifically by name, the prevalence of scams that are attempted on the messaging platform presents an opportunity for banks to create content that alerts customers to these scams and their common tactics. Putting together tips for understanding if a message is legitimate, such as searching for an organisation’s website rather than using links in messages, could help educate customers to protect themselves against these scams. These campaigns could be run on social media, email or website marketing. A further aim of these campaigns could be to educate customers on what to do if they have received a fraudulent message or fallen victim to a scam.
Key Message
Spot common tactics used in scam messages on popular messaging apps.
Audience
All bank customers and smartphone users should be targeted.
Banks and financial institutions could teach people to spot potentially dangerous messages.
Often, scammers impersonate banks and other institutions to instil enough trust in people that they click on the links they share. Banks should encourage users to look for verified checkmarks to validate the authenticity of accounts. Bank impersonators are also known to ask for urgent payments under the guise of demanding fees or debt repayments. For this reason, banks should encourage people to always verify this kind of communication with their banks via a different channel, such as on a call or in person at the branch. They should be advised to verify the authenticity of friends and family asking for money via other channels to ensure the requests are indeed from friends and family. Consumers should also be educated that links that do not contain proper domains are likely scams. Lastly, they should be informed that messages from unknown numbers should be treated cautiously, meaning they should avoid clicking on links or downloading any files shared in these.
