Advice to new expats about online financial scammers

If you’re planning to emigrate, you’ll probable be relying on at least one online bank, but you’ll need to be alert against the ever-increasing lists of online banking scams.

Banking online, buying via your credit or debit card and contacting your bank by email is commonplace amongst expats the world over, but online businesses aren’t the only ones who’ve seen the potential of this massive marketplace. Online scammers are busy taking advantage of this century’s obsession with the convenience of the internet, and are raking in their ill-gotten gains as a result.

Most people think they’re smart enough to spot a scam wherever it surfaces, but recent survey results were a shock to the respondents and an excuse for a party for the scammers, as only nine per cent of respondents gave all the right answers to the survey’s test. Prior to taking the test, around 80 per cent of those involved believed they wouldn’t be fooled by a fraudster, either on or offline.

The quiz was straightforward, simply asking those taking part to decide whether the texts and emails viewed were genuine or fraudulent. One of the scenarios presented was an email for a bank warning of a security breach and advising its customers to immediately transfer their cash to another bank account. The catch on this one was that banks never ask their account holders to transfer their funds to a different account. Those who take such emails seriously will lose their money to the scammers who control the ‘safe’ accounts. Another purported to be an email from a trusted financial company requesting the recipient to click on a link to a second web page. The resulting malware download let the scammers steal financial and personal details from the computer.

Rake Five to Stop Fraud, the authors of the survey, stress no genuine bank or company will ever request your pin number or password, or ask you to move money. Both financial and personal details should never be given out either on or offline unless absolutely necessary. Uninvited approaches can be financially fatal, and trusting nobody is the best way to preserve what’s yours, especially once you’ve arrived in your chosen new work or retirement destination.