By Dilip Mistry

Online and mobile banking has brought a new level of convenience to consumers world-wide and the growth of mobile payments, particularly in the developing world, has created new opportunities for commerce to be transacted.

However, this also generates new opportunities for fraudsters.  The Times of India reported this week on a new fraud involving mobile that was used against a business to illegally carry out a cyber-attack.  You can read the original article here.

The mobile element in this fraud was simple but effective.  The CEO of the victim company received text alerts when bank transactions took place in the company’s accounts.  The fraudsters, presumably knowing that this was the case, reported the CEO’s mobile phone as stolen and ordered a new SIM card, which they intercepted.  Now that the CEO was unaware of transactions coming out of the bank, the fraudsters were able to steal money from the company’s bank account.

What is clear is that, whilst the convenience of mobile banking is fantastic, it does not make a business or individual immune to fraud, and that fraudsters are always looking for more effective ways to carry out crime.  This is not simply a case of ‘how do we protect ourselves against fraud’ but also a case of how can we assess the risks of crime being perpetrated against us and minimise these risks.