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Online Fraud

Online fraud is when fraudsters take financial advantage of you through the internet. This can happen to individuals and to companies when fraudsters illegally access a company’s online banking account, conduct unauthorised online financial transactions or by present you with false offers or propositions, in order to get you to transfer money to the criminal or provide card payment details.

Follow these simple guidelines to stay safe online.

Key Advice

  1. Businesses should have a specific documented internal process for the arrangement and authorisation of payments. Any requests outside of that procedure, especially if received by email, should be regarded as suspicious.
  2. For such requests, verbal contact should be made with the person sending the email, using a known contact number from the company’s internal records, to confirm the instruction.
  3. All staff should be trained and familiar with fraud prevention procedures and good online and email practises including:
    • Not responding to any email seeking financial, personal or security information unless they independently verify (ideally by phone) that the email came from the company or person it claims to be from.
    • Never giving away security details, such as a PIN or full online banking password to anyone.
    • Never clicking on a links or attachments in emails until they have verified it is from the source it says it is from.
    • Following their instincts. If something feels wrong stop, think and check.
    • Being password savvy–using strong and different passwords to log in to different systems. The best passwords are alpha-numeric (using letters and numbers) and at least eight characters in length.
  4. Businesses should ensure that they have appropriate IT and data security in place and should seek independent advice if in-house skills are not available.