What is cyber fraud and do I need to put up guards?

Who you gonna call?

When you spot the bad guys, who are you going to call? Ghostbusters! No,really, you’d likely call 911 (or 999, in this part of the world)—in real life, at least. What do we mean by that? Well, often in the cyber world, other people have got your back in addition to the police!

Criminals have been after the financial system long before Money Heist was a trend. Bank robbers have come a long way from the old days of physical bank robberies, though. These days, as financial products have become digital, so has crime. In fact, the amount of digital (aka cyber) crime has increased and, as a result, criminals now no longer need to physically put themselves in danger as they can attack from literally anywhere in the world instead.

The financial system won’t just let you go into the world without protection, though. Often, the companies that create digital products for you to use online will give you a support system against fraud. These companies include banks and credit card issuers. In fact, the whole financial system is regulated by independent government parties — often, central banks and financial regulators — just to make sure that the system itself is not enabling criminals, to begin with.

Financial crime in the Wild Wild West

Not all financial services these days are “regulated,” though. Cryptocurrencies, for example, are famed by design to operate outside of the system. This comes with moonshot future promises — for example, as an alternative against fiat currency hyper-devaluations — but also the opportunity for a new wave of criminal, fraudulent activity.

If you — like many other people do — have the stomach to handle the risks that come with the Wild Wild West, then you have the option to bank, spend, and save on lawless territory. However, when you’ve been hit by one-too-many scams out there, you can consider the regulatory action that is enforced in otherwise-regulated circumstances.

Keep your privacy private

Now, your banks and card providers will investigate fraudulent activity that you report on the basis that you’ve been smart about your information. For example, sharing your bank account PINs and debit/credit card information with others over non-secure platforms is a big no-no. In fact, going the extra mile and using pins that are not predictable or linked to numbers that can be easily guessed (like your birthday) is strongly suggested.

Further, when you’re (virtually) swiping your card online, be smart about the cells that you put your information into. Think to yourself — does this portal look secure? Sometimes, online merchants will redirect you to an external page managed by a bank or card issuer. This page will look different from their brand’s. Other times, online merchants will embed payment gateways directly onto their websites, which is still secure. All-in-all, payment provider names that you’d recognize as household names — such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express — are safe bets to go with.

At Bankiom, our virtual cards are powered by Mastercard to give you that extra level of security. This should give you the comfort you need to spend online.

Try out our secure card today!

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