Friday, February 7, 2025

Standard Chartered Bank shares tip for safe online banking

Technology innovation has increased opportunities to improve customer service and make banking services more accessible.

The internet is a great tool which can really change people’s lives for the better, and a way to make most services available, such as online banking (or Internet banking) which allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by their bank.
Rutang Moses, Head of Compliance and Assurance at Standard Chartered Bank said: “We recognise the critical need to have controls and measures to protect our customers against internet / online frauds that can lead to financial losses.”

Standard Chartered Bank has implemented two security methods for online banking as a protection to its customers, the PIN/TAN system.

The PIN (Personal Identification Number) is a permanent password used every time you log in to the online banking system (the PIN can be changed by the customer at their discretion).

The TAN (Temporary Authentication Number) is a one-time password to authenticate a particular transaction or individual online session.

TANs can be generated by a special security token given to the customer, or they can be sent via SMS to the registered mobile phone of the customer (this is the approach implemented by Standard Chartered Bank). This combination of a fixed PIN and temporary TAN is called two-factor authentication (2FA), and provides extra security for the customer in case his PIN is compromised.
Before we take a closer look at common online (or Internet) frauds, here are some tips that can help you beat the fraudsters and surf the net safely. Think before you part with any personal information such as your date of birth, bank details, telephone number etc. Question why this information is required and if an offer looks too good to be true it probably is.

Never provide your password over the internet (by email) or over the telephone to anyone, including persons identifying themselves as bank officials. Banks will ask you to verify information and not to supply information.

Online (or Internet) fraud is likely to occur when fraudsters have your personal details, you can protect your identity by choosing a user ID and password that cannot be easily guessed and change these regularly. Password should be combination of numerical and alphabetical characters.
To avoid exposure to online (or Internet) fraud, be careful when using public terminals. Be wary of them, try and avoid the use of public terminals (such as internet cafes) for online banking.

Before you conduct your online banking, check your computer to make sure there is nothing suspicious attached to, if you find something suspicious and stop using your computer.
Also, do not click on a link contained in an email to access your online banking site. Only use the internet address that had been provided initially by your bank. Some fraudsters send an email with a false internet address that directs you to a fake banking site where they ask you to enter your username and PIN.

When you complete your online banking tasks, log off and close the browser window and lock away your confidential information ÔÇô never leave it lying around.
Next week, we continue with lessons learnt on Internet /Online Frauds.

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