Bank Call Center Cybercrime - Essay Example

BANK HOAX BY EMAILS Bank Hoax by Emails Introduction There has been the tendency by human being to engage in certain criminal operations which have high rate of return and low risks. Criminal activities which involve the use of computers are referred to as cyber crime. Cyber criminals see such operations as stealing of financials information and hacking into other networks as profitable business. There has been explosion in breaches of computer securities which are employed in stealing of financial information and money from bank customer's accounts. According to the recent trends, the criminal's cares about their capability of compromising secure systems as well as tricking the bank customers into indicating their personal details or their financial information. They have been operating remotely form major cities in order to keep off from the law enforcement agencies (Sherman, 2000). Causes There has been easy entry into the crime as there is evident collaboration networks of the cyber criminals who operate together in order to improve their abilities as well as skills for the new opportunities. There have been several major reasons why cyber crime has been so hard to fight with the traditional approach. The Hierarchical and static law enforcers have been depending on defined laws, internal procedures as well as regulations for operations against the criminals. There are quite ineffective tools for law enforcement agencies. The criminals' tactics and technology has been changing faster than the rate at which the law enforcement agencies can adapt (U.S Department of Justice, 2004). Confidential Information The confidential details from the bank's database are stored in such computer networks and online thus the criminals are in a better position to initiate unauthorized access and use them for tricking the bank's customers. The networks and online information databases usually manipulate complex technology and bypass firewalls thus give the criminals chance to get access to security codes, customer and bank information (Arbero, 2003). Negligence This includes saving of password in the banks' official computers making use of the bank's official information in public or even improper safeguarding of stored data. The cyber criminals usually take advantage of such situation to access the bank and customers information. Complex Codes Certain operating systems possess codes which are so complex that they can not be manipulated or even decoded for one to gain access to the system. The professional cyber criminals find loopholes in the bank's security and hack into the system. Lack of evidence Lack of necessary evidence to bind the cyber criminals has been a major reason for the crimes' increase. They have devices several means of hiding the trail of the crime. In case the police are able to trace the information to the criminals, it becomes hard for them to use the trail in court of law since it is not physical evidence. How the crime is committed Banks don't usually send their customers email messages requesting them to confirm their security details. Such kind of messages is usually hoax. They are sent to the clients claiming to come from banks, insurance organizations, building society as well as pay pal informing the clients about certain updates of their security information. Hoax messages are usually sent by some crooks who sometimes happens to be working in the same banks and usually impersonate the banks with hope of fooling their customers into divulging their individual security information for them to snatch their money in their respective accounts (Sentor, 2009). A good example of such messages include the ones sent to the customers informing them that the bank have changed their security system in order to assist the clients in avoiding occasional fraud transactions as well as keep their money in safety. Such messages try to convince the customers by recommending them to reactivate their bank accounts. They usually offer certain links which they ask the customers to click on them in order to start utilizing their "newly updated accounts". The crooks go further to provide the customers with a chance to send any questions they might have and give them their personal contact addresses. The messages pretend to be coming from the bank's security department acknowledging that there is existence of hoax messages which are double-bluff. Such kind of message links, incidentally do not go to the particular banks but happen to land somehow as spoof sites that normally mimic the bank's official sites hence try to steal the customers individual bank security information. It is the obligation of the bank customers to try and avoid to fooling by such hoax messages which are genuine looking headers that spoofers copy since they care less about trademark as well as copyright matters. Some of the messages are sent as an image which indicates the crooks trials to get past several spam filters. Other crooks sending such messages have sufficient knowledge of certain customers well enough to skip the general address "Dear customer". But most of them usually have false premise as well as random dodgy text which are usually stuck on the message end and are sometimes not visible to certain systems if not well highlighted (Wallace and Mark, 1996). To help cub the situation, Barclays bank have warned their customers that they would like to go to their genuine bank, they have certain links. At these sites, one would be in position to find some dire warning messages regarding such bogus messages that might be sent to them. The bank definitely knows the personal details of every customer including the real names, account numbers. Barclays won't in any way put a paragraph which has been transplanted from a thriller novel at the bank's official correspondence. Other message tell the customers that their accounts are about to expire, thus they have to follow the specific links provided in order for their accounts to remain active (McLaughlin, 2008). Certain messages have slightly different versions. They indicate that the customer's access to the bank sites has been suspended in order. In such cases when the customers enter their personal details incorrectly several times, they indicate to the customers that they have automatically suspended their accounts. They tell the client that they can get back to the system by resetting their personal details easily and fast simply by clicking on some shown "continue buttons". Account update hoax messages are also common. Other frightening messages inform their customers that the Barclay bank accounts have been blocked simply because it has been compromised by certain outside parties. They further inform the clients that the terms and condition which they signed during the agreement indicated that the customers would like to have their accounts under their control or under control of certain individuals they indicated. Following such situation, the hoax messages informs the customers that the bank security system has noticed some operations which are related to their accounts which show that other parties might have gotten the chance to access their personal accounts or even taken control of their personal information in these accounts (Clifford, 2001).. The crooks normally goes further to advice the customers that such third parties are usually individuals involved in money laundering, terrorism, illicit drugs as well as several Federal Title 18 violations. The customers are convinced to click on the indicated links in order for the "bank to identify their identity". The customers are also warned that they can not access their details unless the said bank verifies their details and that there would be no other liability for their accounts or transactions which might take place due to the customers failure to reactivate their personal accounts as instructed. The customers are further warned that there payments would be frozen and that they wont be able to make use of their account in any way until the security system of the bank verifies such details (eHow, 2008). References Arbero, L.2003. WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2003/d2003-0166.html Clifford, R. 2001. Cybercrime: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of a Computer-Related Crime. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. eHow. 2008. Computer Crime and Intellectual Property. http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ McLaughlin. G. 2008. Barclays Bank to Cut IT Contractor Rates by 10 Percent. http://www.itcontractor.com/Articles_IR35_News_Advice/view_article.aspid_no=4689&photopage=0 Sentor, S. 2009. Cyber Crime and Its Causes. http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/83743/cyber_crimes.htmlcat=15 Sherman, M. 2000.Introduction to Cyber Crime. Washington. Federal Judicial Center. U.S Department of Justice. 2004. Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the Criminal Division of the U.S. http://www.cybercrime.gov (accessed on August 19, 2004). Wallace, J. and Mark, M.1996. Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace. New York: M&T Books. Read More