Emag.co.uk Entertainment News Leader
Lately published annual Fraudscape report reveals the hijacking accounts rose to about 50 percent in 2016 by cyber criminals. A total of 22,525 accounts were accessed illegally and in most of the cases over-the-phone cons tactics were used in which the fraudsters pretended to be customers and also personal information of many were obtained from social media.
Fraud prevention service Cifas collected data from 387 companies to prepare the annual Fraudscape report. It is shocking to know even some of the most well-known firms too were victims.
Compared to 2015 the stealing of funds jumped by 45 percent from 15,497 to 22,525.
The report said most of the stealing perpetrated over the phone in which the criminal phoned call centre of the banks and pretended to be the customer.
In 2016 325,000 cases were reported and still identity crime is the biggest threat, which counts sixty percent of all fraud.
In identity theft the criminals usually steals information like person’s name, date of birth, address and name of the bank from social media so that the person can apply for a loan or purchase products.
According to Cifas chief executive Simon Dukes the criminals keep on changing their approach in stealing information.
Dukes said, “We are now seeing that the advances made in securing online access to customer accounts have led to fraudsters targeting the human being at the end of the phone.”
It is suggested banks and businesses need to do more to identify such potential scams and keep customers safe from being stolen of funds.
