Reports of rising fraud; new anti-fraud measures take effect

ank fraud is on the rise in Barbados, the bankers’ group spokesman said Tuesday as he warned customers to be extra careful and stay alert.

President of the Barbados Bankers Association Anthony Clerk sounded the alarm as global financial network Visa issued a new anti-fraud mandate to be implemented by all commercial banks across the island.

“Fraud is everywhere when it comes to these cards, and just generally. It’s terrible. . . . Between fraud and cyber, the criminals are hard, hard at work,” Clerk told Barbados TODAY.

His message to Barbadians is “to be very cautious; to listen and follow the guidance given by the banks, the Barbados Bankers Association and various cyber experts. Do not do the things they say do not do, and do the things they say to do, and you should be okay”.

The bankers’ group head further warned: “If it looks strange . . . don’t click on any link that you are not sure who the sender is . . . if you are not sure that it’s the link you are accustomed getting. If a message comes by email, read and make sure the email looks right . . . that it’s the correct email address . . . and all those little things that are red flags.

“If in doubt, do not click, do not open, call whoever the sender is . . . .If it’s the bank or whoever else, call them to verify before you do anything. A click, and they are into your account and create all kinds of havoc.”

Clerk noted that Barbados was not immune to rising global bank fraud. “These things are happening all over the world, the same way they are happening in Barbados. It’s the same fraudsters wherever they reside. Just like how you come to work to make an honest dollar, they get up in the morning to try to perpetrate crime against people’s finances,” he said, noting that these fraudsters prey on unsuspecting people as a profession and some get paid for it.

Customers of CIBC Caribbean received notices that the new mandate from Visa which goes into effect on April 30 will change the processing of debit and credit card transactions at point-of-sale terminals. CIBC said that the change to facilitate the mandate took effect on April 10, ahead of the scheduled date.

“All point-of-sale (POS) transactions being processed at chip-enabled terminals must be completed by inserting the card in the POS and entering your PIN or contactless,” the bank advised. “If the vendor enters your card number manually/keys it into the terminal, the transaction will be declined.”

Clerk pointed out that the new Visa mandate relates to all commercial banks in a bid to prevent a vendor from taking a customer’s card when it seems not to work and doing the transaction manually, thereby opening the door to fraud.

“It’s across the board in Barbados . . . and the Caribbean,” he said. “It’s a security feature. It’s a fraud-prevention thing . . . because the person who is in the store, the attendant . . . this might be a fraudulent attempt.”

CIBC has also been cautioning residents to be wary of attempts to gain information from individuals purporting to be bank representatives. It warned that the bank would never contact them via text, email or phone to inform them that they must download a remote desktop application, or give the bank their private information or their one-time verification code.

The bank also said it would never ask customers to click a suspicious link or share their login credentials.

Some customers of another bank have reported being victims of debit card fraud after discovering that unknown individuals outside of Barbados have been charging purchases to their cards without their consent.

One customer, Lindsay Waterman, said he became so frustrated over his back-and-forth written exchanges with the bank over the past year for complete reimbursement of the “unauthorised” card transactions that he has threatened legal action.

In a letter to the bank, a copy of which he shared with Barbados TODAY, Waterman wrote: “I have informed you at every turn, about the unauthorised deductions from my account and the response was tardy and callous. Even the little reimbursements that I received was due to my writing the relevant companies.”

The customer indicated he was not satisfied with his exchanges with the bank, although they are continuing.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb