If you who follow us on TikTok or Instagram, chances are you already know thought I, Clint Mukarakate, almost got scammed two weeks ago due to an Ecocash virtual MasterCard issue. I essentially needed a reversal done and due to engaging with Ecocash on Twitter before, I talked to them the same way I had before and we’ll, due to disclosing my number on a public platform, someone claiming to be an Ecocash agent tried to outright scam me, asking for my pin number or virtual MasterCard details, but which are obviously suspicious details for someone from Econet /Ecocash to ask for. This made one thing clear to me, those occurrences of Ecocash or bank card scams happening in Zimbabwe aren’t as uncommon as we would like to think, and we should all be careful of them.

Now let’s be clear, this isn’t an article to make you panic and think people are always out to steal money from your accounts. But it is written to help you be more vigilant about the world we live in and the many ways we need to be careful online. For starters, do not disclose the following online to anyone under any circumstances :

• PIN /access codes for any platform you need protected including mobile wallets, bank apps/websites

• Bank accounts unless on a trusted payment platform eg PayPal, Payoneer, Wise etc

• Bank card numbers when not entering them into a trusted commerce platform e.g. Amazon, Ebay

Another aspect is to also set up 2 factor Authentication for all online platforms and apps, as that adds an extra layer of protection as well. And this is all considering that the trusted platforms we have mentioned are actually the legitimate platforms, and not fake websites meant to steal information. We will cover more of those scams in later issues. But we thought to specifically bring up these ecocash and Bank scams as they keep becoming more common.

As more Zimbabweans start trading online, we’re becoming a bigger target for bad actors all over the world and of course here locally. As such, better protection of our financial assets, many which can now be accessed online, should be paramount. As stated in the video at the top, I was able to detect that this occurrence was a scam. But the growth of such occurrences means such attacks are likely working in other cases. As such please teach your parents, friends, even workmates of what you have found here today. And stay safe out there.

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