HSBC Fraud Guide

This involves a fraudster making phone calls to a company, posing as bank staff, the Police, regular supplier / client or other officials in a position of trust. The call may be made to coerce a company financial controller into:

• Sending their money to another account often purportedly for ‘safe keeping’ or ‘holding’;
• Withdrawing cash and handing it over to the fraudster for investigation;
• Giving personal financial information, which can then be used to gain access to your company bank accounts?.

Remember,

• Be wary of unsolicited approaches by phone, especially if asked to provide any of your company’s restricted information.
• If you are suspicious, don’t be afraid to terminate the call and, say no to requests for information.
• It takes two people to terminate a call, so ensure the caller has also hung up and you have a clear line, you can use a different phone line to test the number.
• Fraudsters can use ‘call spoofing’ to deliberately falsify the telephone number relayed on the caller ID to show as a genuine bank number.
• HSBC will never call you to ask you to generate a Secure Key code by pressing the yellow button or ask for your PIN number.
• Never share company security details beyond authorised staff. It is important to keep your account and security details safe.

Criminals may already have basic information about your company in their possession (i.e. name, address, account details), do not assume a caller is genuine because they have these details or because they claim to represent a legitimate organisation.

The Business E-mail Compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated scam targeting businesses working with foreign suppliers and/or businesses that regularly perform payments using an email from a company owner (CEO or CFO) as the authority to carry out the payment. Little does the payment processor know that the email is not a genuine company request.

There are two variations of this fraud type, which are as follows – Email spoofing – This involves the manipulation of an email address to make the senders email address appear to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual source.

The fraudsters spoofs the vendors email to submit the modified invoice. It doesn’t require compromising the vendor’s email system, but instead sends the invoice from an email that is so close to the domain of the vendor that most people would miss the change, for example, @CompanyABC.com instead of @CompanyACB.com.

Compromised Email Account - This involves the compromise of an executives email account within the organisation, such as the CFO (Chief Financial Officer). The fraudster sends a request for a payment from the compromised email account to another, often junior employee to action.

Remember,

• Make sure staff are aware to check the email address the payment request is sent from, and have suitable checks in place to verify any new payment request received by way of email.
• Always regularly review your organisations controls to make sure that you have suitable payment controls in place to not fall victim to this type of fraud.

Read more about Business Email Compromise here

Be wary of suspicious text messages sent by fraudsters that look like they have come from your bank to trick you into giving over your personal and financial information (by calling a number or clicking a link).

It's important to remember:

• HSBC will never ask you for your full PIN or password
• HSBC will never text you a link that takes you directly to our login page
• Fraudsters can use 'text spoofing' to deliberately falsify the telephone number to appear as 'HSBC' to seem like a genuine bank text
• Never share your security details with anyone else
• If you have suspicions regarding a text message from HSBC, call us on a known number (eg number on the back of your card) to check before acting on it

If you suspect a text is Smishing, please forward it to phishing@hsbc.com

Using a variety of methods, criminals may obtain important pieces of personal and identity data such as credit card numbers, expiry dates, dates of birth or mothers’ maiden names. This information can be used to gain access to bank accounts or open new credit facilities.

Help to minimise this risk by following these simple steps:

• Shred all receipts or any letters, which contain your business name and address or personal information.
• Switch off your postal statements to prevent unnecessary documents being sent via the mail.
• Set up a telephone security number, as this is a secure way for us to identify you when you call us.
• Don’t give your telephone security number out to anyone who contacts you. HBSC will NEVER ask for your telephone security number if WE call YOU.

Medical Sector Specific Fraud

Unfortunately, we are seeing fraudsters trying to exploit the coronavirus outbreak by posing as trusted organisations like banks and even the World Health Organisation. We are seeing fraudsters specifically target the medical sector and wanted to provide some examples of the types of fraud attempts we are seeing to help protect you from these attacks. These attempts are typically made through the following channels:

• phone calls
• emails
• text messages (SMS)
• social media posts

They may look identical to the phone numbers and e-mail addresses you have seen before, so please take extra precautions and never call/e-mail any one back using the information in the message. Please use the numbers on the HSBC website or call your Relationship Manager if you have any doubts.

Examples of fraud to watch out for

Payment Diversion Scams

Fraudsters are aware that the medical sector is making large purchases to cope with the virus and attacking both the genuine supplier as well as the buyers of these goods by amending the payment details for invoices to their account. When making large payments to a supplier for the first time, please call the supplier on a trusted phone number (i.e. a phone number you know belongs to the supplier) to verify the bank account details before making the payment. Please also follow the same verification process for existing suppliers where you are notified of any changes to the supplier’s bank account details. Never use a phone number or e-mail on an invoice when conducting a verification call.

Medical workers

Criminals are targeting medical workers with fake texts offering goodwill payments from the government because of coronavirus. The government won’t text, email or call about tax rebates or penalties so it could be a scam. Look out for bad spelling, odd addresses and generic greetings. As a rule, never click on links in unsolicited emails or texts.

Fake goods

Fraudsters are using Coronavirus to offer fake goods that won't be received, such as face masks, hand gel and more. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Be careful when buying products online. Use secure payment methods recommended by reputable online retailers and auction websites, and be wary of requests to pay via bank transfer.

Impersonations

Fraudsters are pretending to be bank or government staff (e.g. police officers) and asking you to transfer funds to safe accounts due to Coronavirus. HSBC will never ask you for any PINs, passwords or to move money to a safe account. If you are at all suspicious, hang up or don’t reply to the message.

Should your company become a victim of fraud, please remember to report the incident to HSBC as soon as possible and also contact the local police authority.

Business Telephone Services

Please call this +352 479 33 11 number in the first instance.

http://www.hsbcnet.com/gbm/about-hsbcnet/security-alerts