By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Financial crime investigators yesterday warned that so-called ‘phishing’ scams are increasing with “a number of suspects” being arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Anthony McCartney, head of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s financial investigation branch, said that the scam - which sees perpetrators sending e-mails, text messages or some other form of electronic communication to potential victims, pretending to be their bank or other financial institution in a bid to fool them into handing over their bank account number - has used the name of many local providers.

“We want persons who have a relationship with any financial institution to take, and to heed, advice that we are giving here today. So this applies to all persons, as I indicated, who who have a banking relationship with any financial institution here in The Bahamas,” Mr McCartney said.

He added that while certain population groups are not being targeted, it was clear there is an uptick in phishing scams compared to last year. He added that both Bahamians and non-Bahamians have been charged, and the Financial Crimes Investigation Branch has “been successful in apprehending a number of suspects in relation to these matters”.

“So we use basic crime scene solving techniques with the use of technology, of course,” Mr McCartney said. “I would also like to point out that we are also utilising our partners in other jurisdictions to assist us with our investigations. We know that this is not isolated here to just Nassau, Bahamas. This is happening in other parts of the world.

“And so we’re working with other law enforcement counterparts as well, sharing information, because we see that these suspects as well, they are without borders. And so apart from that, we use our basic tracing and identifying techniques to locate and identify who the perpetrators are, along with the use of technology.

“We’ve been successful in apprehending a number of suspects in relation to these matters. For instance, we find that funds that are sent to a particular account, that information is provided to the police so we know to go directly to that account,” he added.

“The funds have to be withdrawn and so our investigation starts there, from the point of the funds being withdrawn. Who would have withdrawn those funds and then, etc, and so on. That vein, we’ve been quite successful in placing a number of persons before the court being charged for receiving funds that were fraudulently sent to other person’s accounts.”

Mr McCartney said scammers will contact victims via SMS text message or a link, or may even call persons. Once given a response, persons are directed to a website and asked to enter their personal banking information. This leads to customers being locked out of their accounts, and funds being transferred and sent elsewhere.

“What you have is the SMS text coming to the individual, apprising them that they were locked out of their account, or their account has been placed on hold,” Superintendent Yvette Rolle-Davis said. “They would then send the link asking them if they want to access the account to press that particular link.

“As they go into pressing the link, they’re now forwarded to where they have to enter their user name and their password. At that time, because you are actually into the fraudulent website, the scammers are there for taking over your bank account information. Most banking institutions would send you a verification code so the fraudsters would then reach out to you and ask you for your verification code.

“As you were speaking with them, and most persons we see in the amount of crimes that were being reported, they believe that the fraudsters were genuine and would then send their banking information code to the fraudsters. Afterwards, they would then be locked out of their accounts. That is a one-step scheme,” she added.

“On the other step of the same scheme, what we have is individuals who are recruited for the accounts to be used, and these are where the fraudsters are sending the money to. So you may have family or a friend who’s giving you some excuse as to whatever reasons that they need to use your bank account information to transfer funds.

“And so those fraudulent funds that were taken from an individual are then transferred to these individuals who allow their accounts to be used, I guess, by a family friend or a friend or for whatever reason. We see that most of them, they’re receiving funds for their use. That itself is a no, no. And, as we know with your account, the individuals who are allowing their accounts to be used, they are, in fact, responsible for their own accounts.

“So we are advising them to not fall for those schemes. Like McCartney also stated, the bank will never ask you for your personal information. They will never ask you for your verification code. If you are unsure, you are to go into the bank and clear up whatever it is that you need to.”

Ms Rolle-Davis added that perpetrators normally send messages and links to random numbers, and that is how they rope in their victims. She said if the stolen funds are still available, the impacted person would get their money back.

Mr McCartney added: “Again, we just want to sensitise members of the public, as we have been doing in the past. Please, if you’re not familiar with the persons you are speaking with, as we always say, a financial institution will not contact you under any circumstances to require you to change your personal banking information.

“These are all signs of a person who is not authorised to conduct those transactions. We also want to send an appeal to persons who facilitate or assist these scammers in perpetrating these offenses. We find that often-times persons who come in contact with the police, they indicate that their banking information was stolen or lost, and they’ve been asked by a friend to assist them with withdrawing funds from their account.

“Again, if you want to prevent being subject to the harsh penalties of the law, we would advise you to desist from conducting such activities. Persons who own and operate accounts at the various financial institutions, again, if you are unsure as to what’s happening with your account please go into the institution or call. Never respond to a link or a text from persons that are unknown to you,” he added.

“Again, we want to emphasise that. We’ve had scores of persons affected by this, and the numbers are increasing every day. Again, this is very alarming to us as law enforcement as our resources are directed solely into dealing with persons who, just by taking a little bit due diligence, can minimise or prevent themselves from being the victim of crimes.”