Founder and CEO of internet safety magazine (non-profit organisation)Mr. Rotimi Onadipe,has advised the general public to be mindful of the danger of chain letters on the internet.
He made the call at his organisation’s weekly sensitisation program on cyber safety which took place in Ibadan on September 10th, 2022.
According to Onadipe, chain letter was another strategy by which cybercrooks perpetrate various crimes through the internet and many people are ignorantly falling victim to the scam due to lack of awareness and education about it.
“Beware of any letter that comes with an instruction that it should be sent to a certain number of people or forwarded to as many people as possible. It may come in form of text message, email or instant messages,” he said.
“Sometimes, the letter comes with good luck messages, charity donation, urgent financial need, distress messages, death threats, among others,” he added.
“Be informed that in most cases, cyber criminals use such chain letters to distribute viruses, malwares or any harmful content through which they can steal personal information from unsuspecting victims.
In his final remarks, the internet safety advocate said, “To avoid falling victim, make sure you install cyber security software on your device, don’t be in a rush to respond to chain letters even if it looks legitimate but do a thorough investigation. More importantly, inform an expert about it so that he can guide you properly because you may not be able to know if the letter is sent for legitimate or criminal purpose.”
