{ FINANCE }
FIGHTING FRAUD
– the golden rules to protect yourself Gary Chown ACIB MCIBS Chartered Banker Director, Commercial Banking, NatWest Bank E-mail: gary.chown@natwest.com
F
raud today is sophisticated, organised and lucrative. With every sector of the economy facing this threat, businesses
should recognise that there are important steps
massive industry in itself – the cost of fraud to the economy last year was an astonishing £52 billion.
COMMON FRAUDS Here are some of the most common frauds seen today:
Whilst banks are of course targets for
• Telephone (vishing): Fraudsters trick you
fraud, today businesses are firmly in the firing
into divulging security credentials over the
line, with virtually all sectors of the economy
telephone. This includes telephone calls
under threat from fraudsters. Apart from the
pretending to be from the fraud department
constantly changing. Previously it would take
financial loss, fraud can cause difficulties for
of your bank or even the police. They
the form of petty scams. Nowadays, fraudsters
organisations trying to manage cash-flow, lead
manipulate you into providing security
are much more likely to target an organisation
to reputational damage and even see a business
credentials or transferring funds to accounts
via a telephone or a computer. Fraud is a
cease to exist.
set up by fraudsters with the belief that this
they can take to protect themselves.
TODAY’S FRAUD The nature of fraud against businesses is
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