Be Aware of Man-in-the-Phone Fraud
by Nicole Reyes
Man-in-the-Phone fraud attacks is a type of cross-channel fraud attack has been on the rise in the last few years. The key to combatting it is to make customers and financial institutions (FI) aware. But raising awareness is only the first step. Both customers and FIs need to put processes in place to prevent themselves from becoming victims.
To protect their money against this type of fraud, customers need to verify that the person calling them is actually from their FI through a series of questions that only someone at the FI would know. This process needs to be repeated each time the customer is transferred to a new representative. Also, customers need to ask probing questions about the data breach of each representative they talk with to make sure the story remains consistent from person-to-person. Any inconsistencies should alert customers to suspicious activity.
To protect their own businesses, as well as their customers’ accounts, FIs must train customer service representatives to be cautious when asking for customers’ personal information over the phone. This means these representatives should double-check with callers about the reason for their call before going into detailed account information. If the reason for the call seems suspicious, the representative should immediately take action, preventing the customer from providing personal information over the phone until they can make sure the line is secure.