Recently, there has been an increase in online fraud and attacks on bank accounts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the most common methods of fraud are sweepstakes and humanitarian campaigns, which is why the Association of Banks of BiH urges citizens to be extra careful.
“According to our knowledge, online fraud has a growing trend, as evidenced by numerous campaigns such as fraud attempts – OLX, BH Pošta and the like, where they are aimed at collecting data on card data (CHD) on the client’s side,” they assessed in an interview with Fena news agency from the Association of Banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The covid-19 pandemic has contributed to an increase in online transactions. With the end of the pandemic, this trend continued to grow, and thus online frauds also increased, which are most often reflected in the false representation of actual existing merchants with the aim of collecting/stealing citizens’ bank data, the Association adds.
“In case of fraud, clients contact the banks and according to our knowledge, it is about several clients, measured in a shorter time interval, who reported to the bank”, notes the Association of Banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As they say, this is most often the case when clients provide their card data (card number, expiration date, CVV number) to third parties, i.e. that the clients themselves are victims of hacker fraud.
The most frequent method of attack by hackers, they further warn, is the use of social engineering techniques (sweepstakes, humanitarian actions, sales on olx, etc.), phishing, smishing, CEO scams, and the like.
Since online shopping has become more and more common in today’s lifestyle, there are also more frequent online shopping scams on sites that are not qualified as safe.
That is why the Association advises citizens to buy from qualified and verified online retailers and not to fall for well-known sales tricks of high rebates.
In addition, one of the mechanisms for confirming the merchant’s validity is the use of the 3D secure security standard, where the merchant on his side proves his validity by using this mechanism.
Also, banks constantly warn citizens that they will never claim their data via communication channels (call, SMS or web link) and inform clients about the safe way to use cards and personal data.
When asked who is most often the target of such scams, the Association replied that the attacks are usually aimed at people with a low level of awareness of the importance of cyber security in the online space.
In the event of a hacker attack, citizens should first contact the bank to block cards that they suspect have been compromised by a hacker attack.
The banking sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina applies the same protection standards and methodologies used by banks in the European Union to protect against cyber attacks and fraud, according to the Association of Banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fena news agency writes.
