Warning after Guernsey companies caught in bank fraud

People in Guernsey have been warned to be vigilant after an IT expert reported that three companies fell victim to banking fraud in one day.

The Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA) has warned islanders to exercise “extreme caution” after receiving reports of a rise in phone scams in recent weeks.

According to the ODPA, “fraudsters call people pretending to be representatives of a bank” or other organization, asking them to download “malicious software.”

It said: “If you receive an unexpected call – no matter how believable it sounds – hang up and contact the alleged caller using a trusted means of communication, such as a number on the company’s website.”

The authority said islanders should be “particularly wary” of scammers trying to trick people using the global IT outage as a cover.

Pierre Jehan, director of a Guernsey IT company, said three of his clients had fallen victim to a “sophisticated” scam that saw hackers gain “complete control” of their computers.

He said they received calls on Thursday from “convincing scammers with perfect English accents” posing as NatWest International employees and asking them to download software.

Some users later noticed their mouse cursor moving without them doing anything, he said.

He said this type of scam is called vishing and uses phone calls to trick people into doing something that will compromise their IT systems.

None of the companies in this case suffered financial losses, but the fact that the scammers appeared to speak good English made people trust them, he added.

NatWest International said on its website that it was “aware that fraudsters have recently been calling customers posing as bank employees”.

“They may ask you to download software that allows them to collect information from your device,” the report said.

“If you believe you have been targeted by criminals, hang up and contact us immediately on the number on the back of your card or one of our published numbers.”

Brent Homan, the Bailiwick’s data protection commissioner, said it was important people paid attention to “detail”.

“When sending sensitive information, it’s always wise to pause and verify before hitting the send button,” he said.