Don’t be a Statistic, Take Five

Think you’re smart?

Well, scammers are getting smarter…and so should you be, too.

A scam’s not just for Christmas

Scams happen every minute, every hour, every day, every year…everywhere.

No one, nowhere, is immune

Scammers don’t discriminate what generation they target: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, Generation Z – no one is immune.

And nowhere is immune, and that includes the Isle of Man.

Isle of Man Bankers Association (IOMBA)

Gef’s been talking to Chris Till, president of the Isle of Man Bankers Association (IOMBA) about fraud awareness and the lengths scammers will go to defraud you.

Chris says: ‘The IOMBA and its member banks are taking part in a joint initiative to raise awareness amongst the Manx public, together with the police and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA).

‘OCSIA was established by a Council of Ministers directive in October 2017 and acts as the focal point in developing the island’s cyber resilience, working in partnership with private and third sector organisations across the island alongside the wider population.’

No limit to the greed and creativity of scammers and criminals

‘At this time of the year, when people are in a rush, busy spending online, for example, it’s all too easy to become less vigilant. And scammers have become increasingly sophisticated, running what amounts to professional businesses coming up with ever more inventive and creative schemes to defraud people,’ says Chris,

‘The banks, together with the police and the OCSIA are doing all they can, but tackling fraud needs every one, businesses and consumers, to get behind them and work together.’

Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS)

The OCSIA, in partnership with Manx Telecom, operates a suspicious email reporting service, (SERS). If you receive an email you’re not sure about, you should forward it to SERS@ocsia.im.

And you can report any incident of cyber-crime – successful or not – to the OCSIA as well.

Chris says: ‘The more intelligence we can gather – especially about new and emerging scams – the better we can safeguard people from fraud by sharing that intelligence as quickly and widely as possible. And in this, the SERS has a vital role to play.’

For more info, or to report suspected fraud, go to https://www.ocsia.im/

Fraud knows no boundaries

The island may have a reputation as somewhere that’s safe to live and work, but that doesn’t make it immune from these professional criminals – for them there are no geographical – or generational barriers.

Chris says: ‘It’s all too easy to think it’s older, more vulnerable people who are largely the victim of fraud, but that’s far from the case – younger social media-aware generations are equally at risk.’

Fraud isn’t static…and fraudsters don’t do empathy

‘When there’s a global crisis – the war in Ukraine, a pandemic or famine, for example – it resonates deeply with people’s good nature and they want to help. This presents opportunities for social engineering fraud where criminals develop emotionally charged scams that exploit people’s trust’, says Chris.

Take Five

Take a few minutes to think about whether that email, text or phone call is genuine or a scam attempt. If something doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t.

Stop. Challenge. Protect.

If you, a friend or family member is contacted by their bank or the police, the bank or police will never:

• Rush or pressure you into making a decision or force you to make a payment; the bank will encourage you to take time and space to verify your instruction is from a genuine source and beneficiary details have not been altered;

• Ask you to download remote access to your mobile or PC;

• Ask you for full PIN, full password, full account or card numbers;

• Ask you not to call in using trusted method to contact (these could be located on bank statement or website);

• Ask you to keep it ‘secret’. Instead, be suspicious and talk to your family and friends.

If you have any concerns, you should contact your bank immediately using a known number.

Don’t become a statistic…but here are some statistics* to give you an idea of the scale of scamming:

• £730 million lost to unauthorised financial fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques in 2021;

• £200 million lost to remote banking fraud in 2021;

• 99,733 purchase scams reported in 2021;

• 51 per cent increase in police and bank impersonation scams in 2021.

*Statistics from UK Finance’s 2021 fraud report.