Cyber Security News Headlines 2018 | In the early to mid of 2018, more than £500m was stolen from UK banking customers
In the early to mid of 2018, more than £500m was stolen from UK banking customers, figures have shown.Industry group UK Finance claimed that loss of £145m of that was due to Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams, in which clients are deceived into transferring money to a fraud account.However, £358m was lost to unauthorised fraud, which includes transactions made without account holders' knowledge. In this case, victims are usually refunded by their respective banks as the account holder holds no responsibility in the loss. But, APP fraud victims are rarely refunded or never refunded as the clients transfer money by themselves. The current legislation explains that the customers are liable for any losses met by them, if they authorise a payment themselves, i,e, with the account holder’s knowledge.The most common and prevalent APP scam in the first six months of 2018 is through "Purchase scams", in which the customers are conned into paying for products or services that do not exist. These scams are usually executed via online services, examples include payments made for cars or holidays that are never delivered or provided.There were also 3,866 reported cases of impersonation scams, in which criminals pretend to be from a financial institution or law enforcement, and trick account holders into transferring money.During the first six months of 2017, APP scams led to £101m in losses, but UK Finance said this year's £44m increase was partly down to four more banks reporting data.The group's MD for economic crime, Katy Worobec, said the new figures underlined that fraud was a "major threat" to the UK, and added that the "proceeds go on to fund terrorism, people smuggling and drug trafficking".Ms Worobec also added that two-thirds of all unauthorised fraud was successfully thwarted by UK financial institutions.But Gareth Shaw, of the consumer group Which?, said the banks' efforts to tackle fraud had been "woefully insufficient".APPs were the subject of a "super-complaint" made in September 2016 to regulators by Which?, which has been calling for banks to shoulder more responsibility when victims are tricked in this way."They have not done enough to protect their customers, who continue to lose life-changing sums of money to ever-more sophisticated crooks," Mr Shaw said.But he welcomed plans by the Payments System Regulator to introduce a reimbursement scheme for victims of APP fraud.
Protection against "push" fraud
During your money transfer, you are asked to enter three pieces of information: the name of the payee, their account number, and the sort code. However, only the last two are cross-checked by the bank. So putting in the correct name is no guarantee that person will get the money.UK Finance advice the customers to follow below mentioned guidelines:- Never disclose security details, such as your PIN or full banking password
- Don't assume an email, text or phone call is authentic
- Don't be rushed - a genuine organisation won't mind waiting
- Listen to your instincts - you know if something doesn't feel right
- Stay in control - don't panic and make a decision you'll regret
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