Juice Jacking Scam: Mobile charging can drain out your Money.

I am really amazed with the way each of the scam were named. Last few days, I am reading few of the scamming article and Juice Jacking Scam really put me in state of shock. Firstly it was the rate & review scam where scammers trap the user through #whatsapp and now Juice Jacking Scam. Surprisingly the name never relates it to the way the scam is done and a victims can never able to figure it out. This kind of scams were done through public charging unit.

Most of the time we find ourselves in a situation, where our devices like smartphones, laptop, tablet etc ran out of batteries and we are in middle of something important. This may tempt us to use any available charging point especially at the public places to replenish the device power. This scenarios creates an opportunity for fraudsters to exploit unsuspecting users through Juice Jacking.

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What Is Juice Jacking?

The term Juice Jacking is a play of words combining “juice” and “hijacking”. Juice is generally a slang term used for electric power or energy and Hijacking indicating the unauthorised access to the device. Juice Jacking relates to the scammers exploiting the public charging point through malicious way and gaining control over the user devices. They may steal the user data through unauthorised access through these charging points or to infect the devices and getting access to sensitive data such as emails, sms’s, passwords etc.

The primarily motive of juice jacking is accessing the user data on the connected devices likes of passwords, credit card details, banking information can easily be available to the scammers who in return will use them in unauthorised access to our financial accounts. Once the scammers have the control they will do fraudulent transaction, transfer money to other accounts and do many such things which will lead to money loss and financial harm to the any individual.

How the Juice Jacking work?

• The scammers install malicious software or hardware to any of the public charging station. Railway station, airports, restaurants are possible target zone where any individual seeks charging solution for their devices.

• The scammers might label the point as free charging point to woo or entice the possible individual for using it.

• Once the user connects their devices to these charging points, their system gets compromised through the malicious software or hardware.

• The scammers gain control of the device and access the information through any remote location.

• In many cases, the scammers install some malware on your device to continue accessing it even it was disconnected from the charging points.

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How to Stay Safe from Juice Jacking?

• Always avoid using the public charging station. More importantly unknown charging ports and cables.

• Make use of your own charger, or power banks to charge the device.

• Enhance the security of your device through 2 factor authorizations. Enable the fingerprint or facial recognition security feature for an additional layer of security.

• Avoid conducting any financial transaction or accessing any sensitive information over an unsecured network.

• Ensure that the system software is UpToDate and running on the latest antivirus software to prevent any unauthorized access.

Looking at the way this scam has been carried out the best way is to avoid the public charging points and whenever you go out make sure to have your device efficiently charged. The onus is onto us to stay alert and avoid unnecessary problems.

Peace!!

Namaste @steemflow

Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha