- Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO of ESET South Africa shares a few tips and insights on what to avoid to stay safe.
Launched in 2016, TikTok has 6.44 million active users currently in South Africa above the age of 18, which is no small feat in comparison to Facebook which has been running since 2006 with 24.20 million users in the country. With such a broad reach, scammers are never far behind. Cybercriminals are exceptionally creative with their tactics and always follow trends closely, often predicting change ahead of the masses in order to increase the likelihood of their scams being successful. However, scams are not the only dangers lurking on the popular video-sharing application, and users would do well to know how to stay safe while enjoying themselves. Given that it’s so easy to lose track of time scrolling the app, it’s not hard for scams to catch people off guard, which can cause them to lose money, their account, or even their reputation.
Top TikTok scams to be aware of and avoid
1. Don’t be fooled by get-rich-quick and crypto scams
Is Elon Musk really going to give random web strangers a million dollars? Is a worldwide brand really going to give away a luxury vehicle just for following a new account? Unlikely. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Con artists are known for luring people into their web of deceit with offers of huge reward for little effort. Cryptocurrencies have skyrocketed (and hit rock bottom) recently, so they…
