Regulator recommends banks to give more scam alerts to their customers
Customers should know that they must never share personal information, bank card details, SMS one-time passwords, and code words with anyone. If this information is revealed, customers might lose their money to a bank fraud.
In its recommendations to banks, the regulator insists that credit institutions should do their utmost to cover a maximum number of customers, whilst paying special attention to information accessibility for people with disabilities.
The recommendations suggest that information on how to avoid phone and Internet scams is placed in online banking applications, on bank websites, social media accounts and in bank branches, and also displayed by ATMs when users transfer or withdraw funds. Moreover, customers should be informed about these risks by bank call centres and via SMS.
It is also recommended that banks conduct performance analysis twice a year and assess how their fraud prevention efforts influence illegal fund transfers.
‘People became more educated in terms of avoiding phone and Internet scams, still, frauds are getting more active’, explains Vadim Uvarov, Director of the Bank of Russia Information Security Department. ‘It means that customers must be warned about possible risks, and that each customer of the bank must be informed. At the moment, we do not see credit institutions making all possible efforts to achieve this. We expect that if they effectively engage in raising awareness, funds of many bank customers will be safe’.