Criminals reuse fake bank accounts to scam dozens of businesses, payment security firm says
FILE PHOTO: A hooded man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File photo
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Nov 10 : Criminals repeatedly use the same fraudulent bank accounts to target multiple businesses, highlighting the industrial scale of payment fraud, Patrice Bouexel, president of French payment security firm Sis ID, told Reuters.
Internal data from Sis ID shows that a single fraudulent bank account is used against an average of 34 companies in its network, allowing scammers to multiply the impact of each account they manage to open.
Sis ID monitors bank account information for businesses in more than 190 countries and territories. As of late October, it had identified and blocked more than 14,000 fraudulent International Bank Account Numbers, or IBANs, this year. Bouexel said the scale of the activity pointed to organised criminal networks rather than isolated fraudsters.
Many fraudulent traces originate from the Asia-Pacific region or Russia. Large-scale scam operations also exist in countries such as Myanmar, where some participants are forced to work under coercive conditions, Bouexel said. These groups often target wealthier economies and large corporations.
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Sis ID cross-checks bank account details against multiple data sources and intelligence shared by companies in its network before payments are made. It said 36 per cent of its automated verification decisions were based on information contributed by other businesses within its network.
Once suspicious activity is detected, fraudulent accounts can often be flagged in near real time, while more complex investigations may take several hours, Bouexel said when asked how quickly Sis ID could block an account suspected of fraudulent activity.
The company said it helped protect hundreds of billions of euros in payments each year across industries from energy and automotive manufacturing to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Source: Reuters
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