As part of the Take Five to Stop Fraud Week, WhitesPay is proud to ‘Take Five’ in support of the national awareness campaign from Financial Fraud Action UK and the UK Government. The campaign aims to provide the public with the knowledge, confidence and tools to deal and prevent financial fraud attempts on themselves.
The facts about fraud
According to figures released by Cifas, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Agency, in 2016 a record breaking 172,919 cases of identity fraud were reported. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) Crime Survey of England and Wales now estimates that fraud and cybercrime now account for almost six million offences making almost one in every two crimes committed a fraud or cybercrime. These figures show just how important it is to be aware and Take Five to Stop Fraud.
Who’s most at risk?
Identify fraud doesn’t discriminate, so anyone can be at risk if you don’t keep your details safe.
What is Phishing/Vishing/Smishing?
Phishing is commonly used to obtain personal details by posing as a well-known company, which will usually contain a link to a “Log in” portal or that will download malicious software onto your computer. Vishing is a similar but usually involves calling victims on the phone. Smishing is again the same but via SMS messages.
Think you could spot a scam? Take the ‘Too Smart To Be Scammed?’ test to find out.
How do I prevent myself becoming a victim of fraud?
The following information has been provided by the Take Five campaign and WhitesPay support and recommends their advice:
- Requests to move money: A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account. Only give out your personal or financial details to use a service that you have given your consent to, that you trust and that you are expecting to be contacted by.
- Clicking on links/files: Don’t be tricked into giving a fraudster access to your personal or financial details. Never automatically click on a link in an unexpected email or text.
- Personal information: Always question uninvited approaches in case it’s a scam. Instead, contact the company directly using a known email or phone number.
How do I stop my business becoming the victim of fraud?
Knowing your customer is one of the most effective tools to preventing fraud alongside training. Develop your relationship with your customer so you can recognise the red flags and abnormalities compared to their normal activity. Invest time in training your employees, if they don’t have the resource or knowledge on the subject then they can’t be expected know what key red flag indicators to look for.
Written by: Clemency Patman
Clemency is WhitesPay’s Compliance and Data Protection Officer. She joined the business in 2017, and as well as helping us adhere to a number of regulatory bodies, is responsible for compliance training across the company.
