The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit has joined forces with
two banking bodies to launch a campaign aimed at raising awareness
of e-mail fraud scams.
The move, backed by the Association for Payment Clearing
Services and the British Bankers’ Association, follows a spate of
scams which have hit banks including Barclays and Lloyds TSB in the
past two months.
The scam involves sending e-mails to banking customers
requesting them to send personal financial information via a link
to a spoofed website.
The NHCTU said that because those behind the scams are typically
located outside the UK and therefore unable to transfer money
directly out of the victims’ online accounts, they need a UK
intermediary.
This has resulted in fraudsters attempting a second scam, by
offering people the chance to make money by acting as a UK agent
for an overseas business.
Although the early indications are that very few people have
been successfully duped, Apacs, the BBA and the NHCTU have
published a checklist that businesses can make available to
customers.
It includes advice such as always accessing your internet bank
via a browser, keeping pers-onal information secret and using
up-to-date anti-virus software.
David Lennox, director of fraud and physical security at the
BBA, said the initiative should help to combat a growing trend.
"The threats in the online world are the same as in the offline
world," he said.
"These types of fraud have always been with us, but the internet
is now being used as the preferred medium for attempting to carry
them out."
Companies should also be taking measures to counter the rise of
e-mail fraud scams, said Len Hynds, head of the NHCTU.