85 per cent of Canadians worry that they or
their loved ones will be a victim of financial fraud
TORONTO, Feb. 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Financial fraud continues
to evolve; it's more sophisticated, harder to detect, and takes
advantage of people's emotions like fear and excitement. According
to a recent TD survey, 85 per cent of Canadians worry about
themselves or their loved ones becoming a victim of financial
fraud. More than one-third (37 per cent) worry that their elderly
family members are too trusting, and that their children are
unaware of the risks.
"Debit card, credit card and cheque fraud are more common
because of sophisticated approaches that target emotion as well as
transactions," says Mushtak
Najarali, Senior Vice President of Everyday Banking Products
at TD Bank Group. "Prevention and protection are key to fighting
financial fraud, and so is the relationship between customers and
their financial institution. Both parties working together is the
best first line of defense to help identify and avoid financial
fraud."
Many Canadians know the basics of protecting themselves from
financial fraud. In fact, less than 10 per cent will share their
PIN or SIN with a stranger, provide their credit card number on an
unsecure site, or click an unknown link in a text message. But as
fraudsters become more sophisticated, they now try to trick
consumers into sharing sensitive information like passwords, and
bank account and credit card numbers. And there are a lot of ways
for fraudsters to get this information, such as e-mails disguised
as legitimate communications (phishing), communications
appearing to be from a trusted source (spoofing), telephone
calls (vishing), text messages (smishing) and devices
(skimming) that steal your information.
When it comes to fighting fraud, consumers, businesses and
merchants all have a part to play. "Regardless of size or sector,
all businesses can take steps to protect themselves and their
customers against financial fraud," says Dennis Parker, Vice President, Business Deposits
and Cash Management Services, TD Bank Group. "We encourage our
clients to work closely with us to put appropriate safeguards in
place for all aspects of their business that involve online, mobile
and in-person transactions."
As fraud schemes continue to become more sophisticated and play
on emotions, here are some tips from TD to help fight financial
fraud.
For consumers:
- Pay attention to your fraud alerts – Banks
are increasingly using text messaging to communicate with their
customers. For example, TD Fraud Alerts are texts that notify a
customer if TD detects suspicious activity made with their TD
Access Card on their personal banking accounts. The customer can
reply to the alert with a simple "Y" or "N" to confirm whether they
recognize the transaction and TD will unblock or block their TD
Access Card accordingly based on the response. TD will never ask a
customer to reply to a Fraud Alert text with any personal
information or ask customers to click on any links in their
reply.
- Protect your PIN and guard your cheques – The only
person who should know your PIN is you – not even your bank knows
it. Don't ever give out your PIN, whether in person, over the
phone, online or by mail. You should also never leave your cheques
unattended and if your chequebook is lost or stolen, call your bank
immediately.
- Don't be fooled by phishing – Exercise caution when
receiving unsolicited e-mails containing attachments or asking you
to click a link and provide sensitive information. Banks will not
ask you to provide personal information, or login information such
as usernames, passwords, PINs, security questions and answers, or
account numbers, through unsolicited e-mail.
- Verify if it's real – If you receive an unexpected and
too-good-to-be-true cheque, chances are it may be fraudulent. It's
always important to know who you're doing business with.
- Check your statements, online accounts or banking apps
regularly – This will alert you to fraudulent transactions more
quickly. Money management apps, like the TD MySpend app, can be
helpful tools since they help TD customers to be aware of certain
types of transactions on eligible TD accounts and credit cards. The
TD MySpend app provides notifications of spend transactions in
real-time, which helps make it easy for customers to recognize a
fraudulent purchase quickly.
For businesses:
- Daily reconciliation – Reconcile all your business
banking transactions daily. This data can be quickly and easily
accessed online and will give you same day insights into your
accounts.
- Cheque your etiquette – Cheque fraud has been around for
many years, so it's important to take steps to help prevent it from
impacting your business: centralize cheque issuing, use the latest
security features on cheques like chemical protection, padlock
icons and always use Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Serial
Numbers (MICR) on business cheques.
- Validate payment instructions – Exercise caution when
receiving e-mails containing instructions appearing to be from, or
on behalf of, an executive that requests urgent processing of a
wire transfer. Verify such requests through another channel to
confirm authenticity.
- Check your surroundings – Inspect Point of Sale
equipment regularly including serial numbers, wires and cables. If
any equipment looks unfamiliar, appears altered, or is missing,
notify your merchant solutions provider immediately. Check
ceilings, walls or shelves near PIN pads for holes that could
conceal a small camera. Install debit terminals so that customers
have enough room to comfortably shield the PIN pad when entering
their PIN number. The most common way of stealing a cardholder's
PIN is by "shoulder surfing" – looking over the cardholder's
shoulder. Make sure that any security cameras on the premises don't
capture customers entering their PIN.
- Verify your online transactions – To help protect your
business from fraudulent online transactions, be sure to monitor
your account activity and take advantage of security features
available from the payment networks. These include things like
using available CVV validation or billing address verification
services. Use of Verified by Visa® or MasterCard®
SecureCode services are also highly recommended for ecommerce
merchants to add an extra level of security, and can provide
greater protection from fraud-related chargebacks.
About the TD Survey
Results are based on an online
survey of 1,002 Canadian adults (aged 18yrs+), conducted
between January 27 and 30, 2017, by
Environics Research Group.
About TD Canada Trust
TD Canada Trust offers personal
and business banking to more than 11.5 million customers. We
provide a wide range of products and services from chequing and
savings accounts, to credit cards, mortgages and business banking,
to credit protection and travel medical insurance, as well as
advice on managing everyday finances. TD Canada Trust makes banking
comfortable with award-winning service and convenience through 24/7
mobile, internet, telephone and ATM banking, as well as in over
1,100 branches, with convenient hours to serve customers better.
For more information, please visit: tdcanadatrust.com. TD Canada
Trust is the Canadian retail bank of TD Bank Group, the sixth
largest bank in North America.
Mutual Funds Representatives with TD Investment Services Inc.
distribute mutual funds at TD Canada Trust.
SOURCE TD Canada Trust