Bank Account ‘Hijackings’ up 50% in a Year

You might have seen news from Cifas which revealed that the number of UK bank accounts, credit cards and mobile phone contracts hijacked by fraudsters soared by almost half last year.

In fact, the report also found that 50% of the accounts hijacked were done through the phone.

Here, Nick Gaubitch, Head of EMEA research at Pindrop, gives his take on how fraudsters are manipulating organisations through the phone channel and advises on how to combat this type of fraud.

“This report highlights the need for organisations to arm their call centre agents with the tools they need to identify and eliminate fraud on the phone channel.”

“Cifas notes that more than 50% of the facility takeovers recorded were carried out over the phone, typically to call centre staff.”

“Fraudsters are getting better at their craft, honing their skills and becoming more confident at using techniques to bypass current defences on the phone channel.”

“Our own research shows that fraudsters are using a number of freely available tools such as spoof caller ID and voice distortion apps to disguise their voices and conceal their location to manipulate centre agents to thinking they are genuine customers.”

“Organisations need to be just as vigilant on what happens on the phone channel as they are with online channels, because this rise in phone fraud serves as a stark warning – organisations are leaving their customers vulnerable to attack.”

“A better line of defence on this channel is needed. One that allows a multi-layered approach to authenticate genuine customers quickly and accurately, to identify the risk factors that can better track fraud attempts.”

Find out more by visiting www.pindrop.com