You may have
noticed that the internet seems to have grown rather popular these days, so
it’s no wonder that with the number of people now enjoying access, the risk and
incidences of fraud online increases. In fact, 46% of people in total worldwide
(that’s 3.42 billion people) are internet users (We Are Social’s “Digital in
2016” report).
In developed
countries those numbers are of course, far higher. For example, 92% of people
in the UK and 91% of Canadians are internet users (which shows that your doddery
old uncle tweeting like he’s Donald Trump isn’t so unusual). The problem is
that many of these new converts will be unfamiliar with the constant
bombardment of scamming attempts so are far more likely to be duped by
fraudsters.
So, this
increased number of people using the internet, combined with the huge sums the
banks are spending to ensure their systems are hard to “hack” means that you are much more likely to fall victim to fraud online by means of old fashioned
deception: criminals using various ruses to trick people into disclosing their
passwords or parting with cash.
“Raising
public awareness is key to beating the fraudsters” according to Financial Fraud
Action UK, the watchdog there, who are running a major campaign alongside the
police and other industry bodies “to help people to avoid becoming a victim of
scams and fraud online”.
Their most
recent figures, for the first half of 2016, make interesting reading.
● Financial fraud losses across
payment cards, remote banking and cheques totalled £399.5 million in the first
half of 2016, which is 25% up on the same period of 2015.
● At the same time, the banks
identified and prevented nearly £679 million of attempts, which works out to be
£6 of every £10 of fraud attempted being stopped, showing the money they’re
spending to battle fraud online is having an effect and a good investment on
their part.
