Head of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department Chief Supt Dr. Hebert Gustav Yankson, told 3FM News one of the major challenges to the electronic recruitment process will be ‘web scooping’.
“…People are likely to create similar websites and direct you to other accounts to fill [in] your details, so people should be careful” he advised.
He said it was important for the applicants to type in the right web address as specified on the scratch card into the web browser one-by-one to avoid being taken to a parody website.
The Police Service this week began electronic means of receiving applications from prospective recruits, as a measure to rid the system of the frequent scams that characterised the old manual system.
With the new system, applicants are required to purchase a voucher with a secret code from any of the Ghana Commercial Bank branches, which they will use to apply online for consideration.
But Supt Yankson explained there are possible online threats, including but not limited to parody websites, which applicants are likely to face in accessing the Police website.
He noted email addresses of the applicants could also be hacked, saying, “ They send you an email with the message that they want to be sure.
“Even yesterday, I received one from yahoo and they said ‘your email is going to be terminated by tomorrow. If you are not the one who requested for it, please go here and then fill in some forms’”.
Dr. Yankson said these are some means to obtain people’s personal details with which the hackers later use to lure people to send them money offshore.
He warned that tracing money offshore is a difficult procedure hence urged people to be vigilant instead.
By Shirley Ewurama Smith|3FM 92.7|3news.com