Over the last month the number of potentially fraudulent traders has been on the rise. Individuals that have already gained access to compromised bank accounts and are looking to trade those funds for bitcoin.
I’m not sure why there has been such an increase, but what’s concerning is the quality of supporting documents that fraudsters are using to try and bypass AML law. Over the last few years photo-shopped documents which were once easy to spot, are now more and more natural and I wouldn’t be surprised if online photo ID verification has to change in the next few years.
It’s a good idea to check with your bank what security details are required to gain access to you and your loved one’s accounts. What questions are asked, what are the limits for domestic transactions and what can be done to increase security.
The most common way accounts are compromised is via phone banking, where details of an account are asked in order to bypass password security. These details are usually gathered from other websites that have been hacked that have information on you like passwords, date of birth, address and identification pictures.
The website haveibeenpwned.com can check if an account linked to your email address has been leaked. If it has the password associated with the account is known to fraudsters.
The other common method is via phishing emails which are emails that resemble a bank website but actually capture login details. To help protect against this it’s a good idea is to have a separate email address for bank emails and to never log into your banking via a link… always access your online banking via typing it directly into the URL bar.
Unfortunately the downside of bitcoin has been the rise of anonymous fraud carried out on domestic infrastructure… namely internal bank transfers that are instant. The success of this kind of crime has lead to better and better iterations of fraud and phishing attempts and while banks are doing what they can, it has never been more important to keep our security up to date~
Tim