We have a collective responsibility for fraud

News out today from the National Fraud Authority (NFA) shows that fraud costs the UK economy £38bn a year – leaving every adult in the UK £765 worse off.

Cutting channel costs key to profitability

A recent report from Efma and Finalta has shown that improving cooperation between branch, internet and call centre channels is the top strategic priority for nearly half of Europe's retail banks in 2011.

Not Just Another Manic Monday

According to Kelkoo – the online retail comparison website – and Visa Europe, Monday 29 November is the busiest online shopping day of the year. Visa Europe expects 3.8m purchases worth £265m to be made using Visa cards and Kelkoo says that online shoppers are expected to spend £537m on Christmas gifts today.

Don't be discouraged from online banking

The news that UK police have arrested 19 people in connection with the theft of millions of pounds from online bank accounts shows the lengths to which criminals will go to commit fraud, and the PCeU must be congratulated on breaking this criminal gang. However, it is important that stories like this don't discourage consumers from banking online. As an individual there are a number of steps that people can take to help protect themselves from fraud - including never clicking on suspicious links in emails or on websites that could download this type of malware to their computer; regularly running anti-virus software; always checking statements; and reporting anything suspicious to their banks.

Understanding Today's Wire Transfer Risks

While the rise of wire transfer and ACH (automated clearing houses) fraud is not news, the pure acceleration rate, scale and sophistication of corporate wire and ACH fraud is alarming. For example, the FBI recently took the step of issuing a cyber security advisory in response to the growth of unauthorized and fraudulent multi-million dollar wire transfers from business and government entities to overseas locations.

The PFM Debate

According to new research from Fiserv Americans prefer to access personal finance management (PFM) tools through banking Web sites, with security concerns trumping the advantages, such as account aggregation, offered by third party providers.

Dont Underestimate the Online Fraudster

From the beginning, banks have protected their online banking businesses with basic authentication methods that required users to log-in with a username / ID number and a password to verify their identity. However, fraudsters quickly started to evade these early online fraud prevention methods by obtaining users’ passwords using social engineering techniques, keyloggers, or any number of other tools.

Staying One Step Ahead of the Cyber Criminals

The latest Symantec report suggests that the number of worldwide malware samples increased by an astonishing 71% in 2009 compared to the previous year. According to the report, this increase stems from the growing popularity of easy to use toolkits that novice cyber criminals are using to turn out their own malware. In our experience, banks and their customers are one of the key targets for this new breed of criminal. While customers need to be more aware of online security risks, banks are also doing their bit to protect their customers. The challenge for banks, however, is to remain one step ahead of the criminals.

Threat To Online Banking Security

According to this month’s figures released by the UK Cards Association, the number of "phishing" attacks on consumers rose by 16% in 2009 and the total amount of online banking losses saw a 14% rise on the previous year. These stats are worrying for consumers and banks alike – increasingly fraudsters are using Trojans that can infect a user’s PC, and then launch man-in-the-browser attacks that can get around the strongest user authentication measures. The consumer may not even be aware that the funds have been moved from their account as the Trojan can alter the page being displayed.

The race against fraud

A recent news story on financial crime caught my attention:

“Subramaniam went to great trouble to hide his activity. He seems to have thought that carrying data around on memory sticks and using internet cafes would somehow protect him from scrutiny. He was wrong, says Lemon” (Finextra, 15 January 2010)