Common Online Banking Scams

Without touching a single coin, a bank robber took £1.3 million this year through bank hacking. Here’s how contemporary master thieves use software to hack into banks in place of guns. Without touching a single banknote, a guy entered a Barclays bank branch in north London earlier this year and stole £1.3 million using bank hacking tools. Instead, he pretended to be an IT expert and put malicious software on the victim’s computer to steal money from their account. An online bank account hacking plot against Santander was thwarted by police a week before eight men were detained in connection with the crime last month. There has been a noticeable shift in the weapons used by bank robbers, from firearms to technological devices.

Most common online banking scams

Online banking can be super convenient — for both you and cybercriminals. And hackers may use a variety of tactics to gain access to your accounts. Most of these involve tricking you into giving them your account information.

Phishing scams

This kind of online scam involves the sending of a text message or email that appears to be from your bank. A common request in the message is for you to confirm your details in order to prevent the account from being closed.

The message may even contain a link that leads to the bank, but the link really directs users to a phony website that has been made to resemble the bank’s website. The con artists log the information you enter for your account.

The email may occasionally instruct you to phone a phony customer support number. If you do, someone will try to convince you to divulge private information, such as your date of birth or Social Security number (SSN).

Occasionally, scammers already have some of your personal information. To gain your trust, they might mention personal details like your date of birth or the last four digits of your SSN. They may have learned this information from your social media posts or accessed it in a data breach. Common Online Banking Scams –

Cracking passwords

Hackers may also attempt to gain access to your bank account by stealing or guessing your password. If they can access your account, they can commit identity theft by using your private data for their own gain. Then, they have the ability to open credit card accounts in your name, make purchases, or withdraw money from your account.

Technology is used by cybercriminals to quickly guess billions of passwords. With a mix of letters and digits, lengthy passwords are more challenging to crack.

For instance, a computer can quickly guess an eight-letter password. A password can be cracked in 22 minutes if one capital letter is added. In contrast, it would take a computer 34,000 years to decipher a 12-character password that included an uppercase letter, a number, and a symbol.

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Computer viruses

If you click a link or attachment in an email or download false antivirus software, your device may become infected with malware or malicious software. Hackers may be able to access your bank accounts or financial data by reading data on your smartphone thanks to a virus.

Consider purchasing antivirus software to help protect your devices. Our multi-award-winning antivirus software provides continuous real-time defense against online threats including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing for Apple and Android operating systems.

Targeting computers on public Wi-Fi networks

Public Wi-Fi is readily available and cost-free in restaurants, airports, and retail locations. However, without a password and on an open network, it can also be easy for hackers to view your sensitive information.

If you enter into your online bank account, your login information can be made public, making you vulnerable to bank fraud. When using a public Wi-Fi network to conduct online shopping, your credit card information may also be compromised.

Deviate with DDOS

Bank robbers might turn off alarms and CCTV before robbing a . The electronic equivalent is a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, in which heavy amounts of network traffic overwhelm a bank’s systems and provide criminals the cover they need. While the bank’s IT team struggles to maintain the systems online and operational, thieves are transferring money from users’ accounts.

Tips To Stay Safe

It’s important for businesses to have a company-wide security plan in place to ensure employees help protect sensitive company data. Companies with dedicated IT departments work hard to protect their sensitive data and have probably taken all the necessary precautions. If you own or manage a small business without the safety net of IT personnel, here are five best practices that will help protect your information.

1. Keep Financial Data Separate
For business users in particular, use a dedicated work station to perform all company banking activity. Use other computers to access the Internet and conduct non-banking business. When it’s time to retire the computer that was used to access company banking, be sure to back up all sensitive information and erase the hard drive before recycling it.

2. Know Who’s Asking
Banks often avoid sending emails or text messages that request personal information like account or social security numbers. Additionally, banks won’t ask you to use this method of account information verification. Never send or receive emails or texts containing personal information, particularly social security or tax identification numbers, account numbers, or login and password details. If you must contact your bank with sensitive information, make sure you do it using secure email through the bank’s secure online banking system.

Also on the rise are emails to businesses that appear to be from suppliers. Like fraudulent banking emails, these emails may look legitimate but will ask for sensitive financial information. If you see an email asking you to provide sensitive financial information – even one that may look like it’s from your bank or supplier – call to verify before responding.

3. Keep Your Passwords Secret
Passwords shouldn’t be shared, and anything containing financial data shouldn’t be left in an insecure location. Use a variety of letters, numbers, and unusual characters when creating new passwords to increase security. Change the default SSID and password for your wireless network (name used to identify your network). Keep your SSID private and think about encrypting your network.

4. No Phishing Allowed
Watch out for scam emails. These emails are intended to prompt you to alter or verify your account information by clicking links inside the email. The links in emails are frequently means for scammers to download harmful software, commonly known as malware, into the computer or device you use to view your email. Personal data can be obtained using this malware.

5. Protect Your Computer

It’s critical to install antivirus software on your computer or network due to the increase in cyberattacks. To stop viruses from invading your computer, it’s crucial to make sure you run and update this program frequently. The following software applications can also assist you in thwarting malicious online activity:

Anti-spam software: Assists in preventing spam and unwanted email from reaching your inbox, protecting you against phishing emails.
Viruses and malware can’t enter your computer without your permission thanks to the firewall.
Anti-spyware software prevents the installation of spyware, which can track or regulate how you use your computer, give you pop-up ads, or reroute your browser to dangerous websites.

Keep your computer operating system and Internet browser current; this provides additional protection against fraud and theft. Common Online Banking Scams –