As Filipinos spend more time online, the risk of falling prey to fraudsters increase, which leads to incidents of ATM fraud and identity theft. Data from the Justice Department show that in 2014, identity theft accounted for nearly a tenth of all cybercrime incidents in the country. Meanwhile, bulk or 22 percent were accounted for by internet-related scams. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has called on financial institutions to strengthen their anti-fraud initiatives to protect clients’s accounts and ensure the industry’s stability.
PSBank responds to this call by reminding the public to be vigilant with their personal and financial information, whether it’s stored offline or online, considering how advanced and fast fraudsters are becoming when it comes to stealing people’s information.
“Technology continues to evolve over time and so do fraudsters who adapt to these changes,” says Dan Duplito, Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) vice president for Information Security Division. “At PSBank, we prioritize the security of our clients by constantly improving our products and services to address their changing needs. We want to help our clients avoid the financial and legal problems that co-exist with becoming a victim of identity theft by continuously educating them with necessary preventive measures.”
Identity theft happens when there is failure to exercise enough precaution with one’s personal data. Many online users freely share information about themselves on various websites without thinking that hackers could easily steal information. Identity theft can also be done offline, not just through ATM skimming, but also through stealing your personal documents.
“When an online site or institution is asking for personal information, we advise the public to practice proper discernment at all times,” Duplito adds. “Usage of strong passwords and trusted anti-malware programs are also a must. We advise our clients against logging in their online banking, e-mail, or social media accounts when using public Wi-Fi, unless they have verified the correct hotspot name from the shop or establishment. It’s easy for hackers to set up a ‘free’ Wi-Fi hotspot that sounds like a popular coffee shop and sniff the log-in credentials of their victims.”
He continues: “Individuals should also keep hard copies of their personal documents and financial records in secured places or shred them before throwing them away.”
In fact, Duplito reminds you to secure the password recovery feature of their e-mail and online banking accounts by enabling the two-factor authentication (2FA) feature whenever possible.
“2FA is where your temporary PIN or password is sent to your mobile number. For example, if you’re trying to recover your e-mail password. If 2FA is not available, make sure that the answers you supplied to your ‘security questions’ cannot be easily guessed and associated with your social media posts and information,” Duplito concludes.
To further protect one’s identity and hard-earned money, PSBank provides its cardholders with an additional layer of protection against unauthorized use of their ATM card through the PSBank ATM Lock. The PSBank ATM Lock can be easily activated anytime via PSBank Online or PSBank Mobile. For any unauthorized transactions, PSBank clients can immediately call the 24/7 PSBank Customer Experience Hotline at 02-845-8888 or visit any nearest PSBank branch.
