ANYIETH KUOTZ
More Australians are falling victims to online and credit card fraud and scammers.
The way Australians use banks these days, such as banking online and using ATMs, means they are much more exposed to fraud.
Scammers have new methods of reaching personal details to steal account information and, of course, money.
Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) is one bank which has set up strict procedures that protect their clients from credit card scams and fraud.
With a rapid system of retracting and returning the customer’s money and allocating them with a new card immediately whilst blocking the old one.
“Security of our customers’ banking details is a top priority for the Commonwealth Bank. We invest in state of the art fraud prevention and detection technology and have a dedicated team who actively monitor unusual or suspicious activity. We also work closely with law enforcement agencies and other banks to share information and understand potential threats,” a CBA spokesperson said.
Miss Angel, a CBA client who has dealt with this type of fraud in the past was allocated an immediate new card and refund for the purchase made illegally through her account.
Some examples of online scammers are their ability to clone major corporations such as PayPal and in Angel’s case Office Works.
“I received a $500 bill to my account through a transaction I hadn’t made. I have never shopped online through office works so I found this a strange bill to receive. I immediately contacted CBA and they followed the case allocating me a new card and refunded the amount taken.” Miss Angel said.
One of the more popular forms of illegal fraud and scamming is phishing.
Phishing emails, text messages or phone calls come from scammers pretending to be a bank, financial institution, phone company or even a university or government agency.
If an email is received, everything on the email will look like the ‘real deal’, from the web address to the logo and message format.
The links provided will be to a fake website scammers have created.
The website will even have a similar web address to the bank’s real website.
The scammer wants individuals to give them personal details, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and most importantly, their passwords.
Individuals get an email, text message or phone call out of the blue from someone saying they are from their bank.
They say there is a problem with your account and ask you to give them your account details or click on a link.
If individuals give out these details, the scammer can use the information to steal money from your bank account. This is a typical phishing scam.
The email may ask individuals to download their security software which is really a trojan virus.
This allows control to certain scammers over individuals software.
Scammers have crafty ways to get clients’ details over the phone, by email or using text messages.
They may even try to take the card itself by stealing your wallet.
Scammers can get credit card details by:
- Tricking clients into telling them credit card number and/or security codes (the three-digit code on the back of the card) by pretending to be a bank or another company
- Installing spyware on clients computers so they can see the files they use, websites visited and information stored – spyware can be installed remotely
- Stealing client’s credit card – losing wallets
- Using card skimming devices on ATMs
- Accessing information on unsecured websites
- Accessing details from past online shopping activities
When scammers have credit card number and security code, they can make purchases over the internet or by phone.
Causing a common way of illegal fraud that has clients worried about their security.
As the occurrence of online fraud and scams rises Australians are probed to keep themselves protected by setting up proper security for their credits and take immediate action in contacting their bank firms in the case of suspicious transactions.
