NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Since the onset of the COVID-19 lockdowns across the country police have seen reported incidents of phishing attacks increase ‘daily’ according to a senior police investigator.
Chief Superintendent Matthew Edgecombe office in charge of the financial crimes investigation branch while speaking at a “Fraud and Cyber Security” virtual town hall presented by the Clearing Banks Association and hosted by Nahaja Black said the “mystery shopper”scam. The CBA has launched an Ad campaign warning against such the rise in such schemes.
Chief Superintendent Edgecombe said, “Since the lockdowns we have seen an increase daily in victims of these (phishing) attacks.”
While not wishing to disparage victims of such attacks, Edgecombe said that persons sitting at home and out of work were likely being tempted by the opportunity to earn some much needed cash.
Bank in July Commonwealth Bank held a press conference warning customers not to fall prey to phishing e-mail scams, which has also been flagged by other local financial institutions.
As Edgecombe explained persons are often lured by fake-emails into disclosing personal financial details which is then used by fraudsters to steal money from their accounts. That stolen money is then transferred into the accounts of other clients of the bank who had been contacted to participate in a so called “mystery shopper” exercise. Fraudsters would then get the individuals who received the funds to wire money abroad or purchase gift cards while keeping a small amount for themselves.
“We try to educate the public to not allow persons to put money on their banking account in such a way. Whatever money you put their you are liable for. The secret shopper is something we have seen most prevalent recently. At the end of the day the secret shopper is the one who is liable. The fraudsters are outside of our jurisdiction. We have international partners helping us to track these people but in many instances the money is never recovered,” said Edgecombe.
