Facility fraud rises as “smishers” join “phishers”

by Gill Montia

Story link: Facility fraud rises as “smishers” join “phishers”

CIFAS has warned that the recession has sparked an alarming rise in facility (or account) takeover fraud.

According to the fraud prevention service, incidents of facility fraud increased an annual 207% in 2008, to 19,275.

This type of fraud occurs when the perpetrator secretly “hijacks and plunders” a victim’s account, it therefore differs from identity fraud when a criminal impersonates the victim.

Fraudsters obtain account information in many ways including “phishing” attacks on victims’ PCs.

In addition, “smishing”, which involves accessing SMS text messages sent by banks and other financial services providers, is increasingly used to hijack accounts.

One victims of the crime had their credit card account used for multiple online purchases over just a few days; another went to a cash machine to discover their balance was down to just a few hundred pounds, when it should have been in the thousands.

CIFAS Communications Manager, Richard Hurley, comments: “Anyone who thinks that fraud is a victimless crime should think again. The financial costs can be bad enough, but the emotional and psychological effects are unquantifiable.”

He adds “The effort required to get the problem rectified should not be underestimated.”

CIFAS represents over 260 member organisations spread across the entire UK financial sector.

Its members share information on identified frauds in the fight to prevent further crime.