Phishing cases have doubled: in 2021, 33 cases of this type of scam were reported to the BCU

Due to the increase in fraud through digital media and based on coordinated work between the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), the Association of Private Banks of Uruguay (ABPU) and the Banco República (BROU), a series of animations to address topics such as: phishing, online shopping, ATMs and debit, credit and prepaid cards. These animations will be shared on institutional networks during October, cybersecurity awareness month.
On the occasion, the president of Banco República, Salvador Ferrer, said that the cases of phishing complaints have doubled compared to a year ago, but they represent a tiny amount for the institution, but it affects the scammed person. Phishing is a technique that consists of deceiving the user to steal confidential information, passwords, etc., making him believe that he is on a completely trustworthy site. The Central Bank reported that in 2021 there were 33 complaints related to this type of scam.
They are due to actions of the banks’ own clients who, for example, disclose their personal data, through links that reach their emails or WhatsApp. In most cases, scammers pose as a bank and ask for information such as a password, or link people to fake pages where they are asked to change their password.
“It is a very high percentage of fraud attempts that we managed to stop, with the collaboration between all the banks. And on the other hand we promote, for example, instant transfers, where we should go. In those cases there is much less possibility of stopping the frauds» said Ferrer.
For his part, the president of the Central Bank, Diego Labat, said that promoting instant transfers is on the BCU’s roadmap. “But there is that balance. If I have an instant transfer, if it was fraudulent, who receives it and took the money. When a transfer takes 24 hours, it is easier to stop it along the way, but that is not why we should take everything to 24 hours in order to stop the scams. We must have a good instantaneous system, which has the appropriate locks to make it work.
He added that at that point a working group within the banking industry. One of the changes must be normative, because a person who tries to carry out this type of scam can be detected, but does not succeed, but the law does not require that bank to inform the rest of the financial system about this attempted scam.