December 5th, 2014  

Unfortunately hardly a week seems to pass by without some news report of people having fallen victim to bank scammers. It seems hardly credible that despite the publicity around these scams over recent years and the simple steps needed to safeguard the funds in your bank account that these scams are still prevalent and finding some success for the criminals operating them. Yet it seems no-one is immune to this type of fraud and theft as the Solicitors Regulatory Authority has recently issued a warning to the law firms it regulates to be wary of scammers tricking firms into disclosing bank security information over the telephone.

The warning cites four firms that have been targeted this way recently, and which have collectively had £2 million taken from their accounts. The scammers gain the confidence of those they call – known as social engineering – to obtain important information and access account funds. Specifically, they ask for “challenge and response” codes, which are used to authenticate payments and in some cases digital banking log on and password credentials. The SRA Executive Director of Operations, said: “These scammers are very active and convincing. They are highly sophisticated in their approach and therefore very capable of duping many people.”

There are a couple of simple steps that everyone should have in their minds when discussing their banking arrangements:

• Remember that banks will never ask for passwords or response codes over the telephone – if you are asked for this information however convincingly you should terminate the conversation.
• Just as you bank needs to validate you when you ring them, you should insist on validating anyone who contacts you claiming to be from your bank. Independently validate callers by contacting somebody you already know at the bank, using a different telephone line, e.g. a via a mobile, as there have been examples of scammers keeping the line open to intercept any follow-on call to check.
• Do not respond to e-mails claiming to require an update of your personal details without first contacting your bank to confirm its authenticity.

I would urge all my clients and contacts to remain vigilant against these scams and to adopt a cautious and wary attitude to any contact from the bank that is not initiated by yourselves.