7 Tips to recover from cyber fraud
1. Contact your financial institution
It’s important to contact your bank immediately if you have fallen victim to cyber fraud or if you suspect cyber criminals have compromised your financial information. Below are the fraud incident hotlines, so you can contact the four major banks in Australia:
Ensure you collect and document as much information as possible in the event of cyber fraud, including names, personal details, social media interactions (if any), email addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, digital currency exchanges, receipts, phone call interactions and records of other types of payments. The more detailed information you can provide your financial institution, the greater the likelihood they will be able to track down your funds.
It is also recommended by the banks that you forward suspicious email and SMS messages to your financial institution.
It is critical to understand that Australian banks don’t assume any liability for stolen electronic funds transfer payments. At best they may be able to stop and recover outgoing funds, if it isn’t too late.
2. Call the police
Report a cyber crime to your local state/territory police immediately if the scammer has compromised sensitive financial information or stolen your money. Below are some examples of when to contact the police:
- Manipulated invoices
- Fake or counterfeit money
- Overpayment of accounts related to possible money laundering
- Internet hacking
- Merchant fraud
- Victim of Identity theft
- Cyber threats or intimidation
- Espionage
Those not directly impacted by a cyber crime, but who nonetheless have information relating to a specific incident, can report information about the fraud to Scamwatch.
3. Report to your IT administrator
You should urgently consult an I.T. professional if you suspect any suspicious activity. Your existing security tools may not be capable of detecting cyber crimes that involve deceiving your staff into processing fake payments. All too often, cyber fraud is only detected after the damage has already been done.
That’s why it is crucial to communicate with your I.T. administrator if you suspect any malicious behaviour. I.T. professionals will investigate how the cyber crime was executed, whether any email accounts are compromised, and examine logs in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the crime. Evidence will be crucial in determining whether the fraud originated internally or due to an external threat actor.
Internal threats to I.T. systems are an increasing risk for many organisations. These can occur when staff are unaware of the appropriate security measures or when malicious intent is involved. Some steps can be taken to guard against internal threats including:
- Establishing IT policies and procedures
- Analysing security configurations on devices and system privileges
- Implementing secure data storage practices, such as cloud storage
- Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication across all systems, and embracing strong password practices
- Ensuring security around sensitive files, including limited access controls
4. Report to Cyber.gov.au & Scamwatch
Scamwatch or the Australian Cyber Security Centre might have information helping you identify the crime syndicates behind your cyber fraud, particularly if other Australian organisations have experienced similar incidents in recent times. Depending on the nature of the cyber crime, you should quickly report the incident to the relevant cyber security authorities. See below for more information on who to report to based on which cyber crime:
5. Seek support from IDCARE
In Australia and New Zealand, IDCARE is the national identity and cyber support service that helps people and organisations with concerns about identity theft or cyber crime. They provide an effective response plan and mitigation when it comes to your personal information or identity being stolen.
Contact IDCARE to develop a specific response plan tailored to your situation and support you throughout the process. All contact information can be found on the IDCARE website.
6. Contact Crime Stoppers
Crime Stoppers Australia combats a broad spectrum of criminal behaviour, including cyber crime. Cyber crimes include internet fraud, phishing scams, identity theft, cyberstalking, and more. Crime Stoppers works with law enforcement in other jurisdictions through Interpol in an effort to track down and stop the global criminal syndicates that often perpetuate such offences.
As an independent body, they are able to assist you, and the wider community, in anonymously sharing information about crimes of concern and criminal activity.
Get in touch with Crime Stoppers Australia today to share your experience with an unsolved crime or suspected cyber criminal activity by visiting Crime Stoppers.
7. Report to your Cyber Insurance Provider
Having cyber liability insurance can protect your business from the aftermath of a cyber attack and data breach in certain circumstances. Reporting your situation to your cyber insurance provider will help you deal with the costs and expenses related to the attack.
Your provider can contribute to financial protection by covering:
- Forensic investigation costs to investigate the issue
- Data recovery costs
- Extortion amounts that ransomware may demand
- Crisis management costs
- Notification costs and other legal costs
Cyber policies will generally cover operations losses, such as business interruptions, but many will not cover cyber fraud that they deem to have occurred due to human factors. If they determine a cyber fraud incident was directly caused by human error, you may discover that your cyber insurance doesn’t cover the losses.
How can Eftsure help?
Recovering funds stolen through cyber fraud is, at best, a long shot.
In the aftermath of a fraud incident, you will find yourself mired in a painful process that will take months to resolve – and at the end of this process you still may not have recovered your stolen funds. Even if you report the scam as soon as possible, there’s no guarantee of a successful outcome.
That’s why preventing cyber fraud is critical.
With Eftsure sitting over your accounting processes, you no longer need to worry that supplier banking data is being manipulated. You gain the ability to securely process electronic funds transfer payments without worrying that you are inadvertently sending money to cyber criminals.
Eftsure’s unique database comprises banking data from over 90% of actively trading Australian corporate entities. This gives your AP staff an easy way to identify scams and fraud, as well as prevent erroneous payments.
Eftsure works in conjunction with your existing strong internal controls to maximise your payments security.
To learn more about Eftsure and how we can help your organisation stay protected, contact us today.
It's the critical information you need to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals and prevent your organisation becoming a victim.
