Published: February 8, 2022
Blog by Chris Hinton, IT Security Officer
At Unity Trust Bank, we’re committed to helping you keep your organisation’s money and financial information safe – in the real world and online. As part of Safer Internet Day 2022 on Tuesday 8 February, we’ll be joining organisations from around the world to celebrate the theme of “Together for a better internet” and recognise the importance of making the internet a safer and better place for all.
As supporters of this landmark global event, and to ensure that your organisation stays safe online every single day, we’ve shared the below advice so that together, we can make it difficult for fraudsters to attack your organisation.
Criminals are constantly developing more sophisticated ways of defrauding businesses. Fraudulent activity and online crime are on the rise, so the best way to protect your organisation is to be aware of the latest tactics:
This is a widespread scam in the banking industry and happens when fraudsters intercept emails from legitimate organisations and alter the account details on the invoice, ultimately paying the money directly into another account.
You can protect your organisation by calling for verification. If account details have changed or the payment is to an unknown beneficiary, call the organisation on a recognised number and ask them to verbally confirm the account details. Do not use the phone number on the email as this could be the fraudster’s number.
These fraudulent emails are designed to trick someone into revealing sensitive information or clicking on a link that could be harmful to your computer. Alarm bells should ring if you receive:
You can read more about protecting your organisation from phishing emails in our preventing finance fraud blog.
Fraudsters can target your employees using text messages (SMS) that appear to be from a bank, delivery company or HMRC. The texts usually state there’s a problem with your account, issues with a payment, suspicious account activity or a missed parcel delivery. The text will contain a link or a phone number, but these demand personal information i.e., account numbers, passwords, or PINs which you are giving directly to the scammer.
These are just some of the current financial fraud scams which are affecting UK organisations. For more top tips on how to protect your organisation and your team members from falling victim to fraud, visit our Fraud Page.
We also have a specific freephone for fraud or account security questions. If you need support, please call: 0808 196 8420.
Safer Internet Day is now marked in almost 200 countries. To be part of the actions and activities and learn about the latest emerging online issues, visit https://www.saferinternetday.org/ or follow the conversations on Twitter using #SID2022.
