Anti phishing measures begin to work.

...fraudsters go "analog" again.

[jecasc]

I protect my computer with anti virus software, firewalls, update everything regularly. I use chip card based online banking only. I never click on email attachments without checking them. However yesterday, when I looked at my bank account 3000 EUR were missing.

How? The fraudster sent a simple fax to my bank instructing it to transfer the amount to a bank account in Bosnia. Very cleverly done, he even checked the banks website to address the fax by name to the clerk in charge. He then signed with my name.

I will get the money back, the bank is liable. But it will take some time.

So the security measures against phising and the like seem to begin to work, fraudsters are returning to the old fashioned ways again.

[tbear]

Wow, you had 3000 euros in your bank account......

[jecasc]

Wow, you had 3000 euros in your bank account......

Not necessarily. Never heard of overdraft credit? ;)

[edited by: jecasc at 5:55 pm (utc) on July 27, 2008]

[janharders]

not only is your bank liable, I'd also be pretty pissed if they did that to my account. I mean, the least you'd expect is a call to authorize that, since anyone could fake a signature. Same thing if they'd call the bank and tell some story pretending to be me (I rarely visit my bank, and if, then only to get to my safe deposit box, anything else I do online, so I doubt that any employee could identify my voice), it doesn't matter if they know my birth day and account no, they better know the password or nothing moves.
I'd complain to the bank. What happens if they do that during a holiday and your account get's emptied and possible legit payments don't go through because of insufficient funds?

[Joe_mambro]

jecasc
where do you live? what country?

[jatar_k]

trouble is they never stopped using the old methods and those are still the methods that cause the large majority of fraud.

[Fortune Hunter]

I use chip card based online banking only

What is chip card based online banking? I do a lot of online banking, but I haven't ever heard of this.

[janharders]

chip card based online banking is primarily used in europe, I think, mostly with HBCI, where the private key is stored on a chip card. No TANs needed, only a password to run the encryption of the orders. I use it, too, although I'm lowtech and use a oldfashioned 3.5" disk for storage. The Key-Exchange usually happens personally with your bank.

[LifeinAsia]

I'd complain to the bank.

I would demand to speak with the branch manager in person to find out why his branch's security was so lax that this could have happened in the first place. Depending on the outcome of that meeting I might fire off a written complaint up his chain of command, as well as to the particular regulating authority(ies) for that bank. And I would be looking for a new bank unless I got some serious guarantees that this was a one-time slip-up that would never happen again.

[Fortune Hunter]

I would demand to speak with the branch manager in person to find out why his branch's security was so lax that this could have happened in the first place.

I would fully agree. You have to be able to have confidence in your bank and their security otherwise you might as well store your cash under your mattress. I have one bank I work with now that I have multiple lines of credit and accounts with as well as my safety deposit box. I shudder to think how much damage could be done if they had such lack security.

[jecasc]

I received good news today, the bank was able to return the money to my bank account.

The police told the bank they have identified the fraudster, but I don't know if they have arrested him/her yet.

Actually I am not quite sure if I should be mad at the bank or not because the fax was so cleverly done perhaps I would have fallen for it myself. The signature on first sight didn't look too bad, compared to my own. And since I run an ecommerce site I know that I have involuntarily put other people through similar trouble by receiving payments from credit cards that turned out to be stolen.

On the other hand the least they should have probably done is call me on my cell phone. Or open the window and shout across the street since my office is just opposite the bank, about 20 metres away.