National Australia Bank saw an increase of 38 per cent in the number of notifications of scams by its customers during 2022,compared to 2021. The notifications include where customers noted suspicious activity,such as suspicious texts or emails,as well as those who have lost money.
National Australia Bank has seen a huge increase in reports by its customers of suspicious activity and scamsNatalie Boog
Krissie Jones,NAB retail executive,personal banking,says:“Just when we think we’ve closed one door with these criminals,it’s a bit like whack-a-mole,and we need to be looking at the next emerging[scam] as well.”
NAB has added 60 people to its fraud team since October last year and has about 60 projects aimed at better protecting customers.
Research commissioned by the bank shows about one in five Australians have been victims of a cyber-attack,or a data breach,or have been scammed in the past 12 months.
There has been a slew of cyberattacks over the past that began with Optus,then Medibank and then Latitude Financial Services,and numerous smaller hacks that do not make the headlines. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s recent Targeting Scams report shows a record $3.1 billion was lost to scams in 2022.
Optus is one of the companies that have recently suffered a data breach.AP
It notes that became more vulnerable to scams in 2022,following the spate of large-scale,high-profile data breaches.
Further evidence of the rapidly rising incidence of cyberattacks comes from a report by the Australian Cybersecurity Centre it received an increase of nearly 13 per cent in cybercrime reports by individuals and organisations in 2021-22 compared to the previous financial year – one report every 7 minutes.
Catriona Lowe,the ACCC deputy chair,says scammers are the most opportunistic of all criminals and,unfortunately,the more information a scammer has about you,the more convincing they can be in their deceptions.
She says in the immediate aftermath of the breaches,there were hundreds of reports to the ACCC,including reports of scammers impersonating government departments and businesses to carry out identity theft and remote access scams.
The NAB research,which included a survey of 2,000 adult Australians,found the most common type of cybersecurity issue – experienced by about 6 in 10 victims – is where their personal data has been stolen and given to a malevolent third party.
The next most common forms of attacks are where a fake email or website tricked them into giving away personal information,and where personal data is stolen from their computer.
The Australian Cybersecurity Centre provides steps to and accounts,including step-by-step guides on how to enable multi-factor authentication on popular social networking applications.
Among other tips,the Centre advises individuals are encouraged to turn on automatic updates on all devices and apps,including personal mobile phones,computers and smart devices such as smart speakers.
NAB’s Jones says everybody needs to be on the guard for scams. Do not open suspicious text messages,emails or phone calls that you do not recognise,she says.
“Never let an unknown person access your computer remotely....including opening links provided through social media that may give someone access,” Jones says.
Be alert to text messages that are purporting to be from a legitimate organisation and requests for payment using unusual methods,she says.
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