Cybercrimes have grown in the world and Uruguay was not exempt from this phenomenon. The figures related to the business of computer crime worldwide are significant and are expected to continue to grow. In Uruguay, there is a bill on the classification of cybercrimes which has been in Parliament since 2021 pending approval.
The most recent case of fraud occurred in the Republic Bank (BROU) about the end of last year when dozens of people were victims of maneuvers in their bank accounts. The bank faces several lawsuits for this reason and reported that since 2020 it has not been able to recover US$ 2.8 million lost in fraudulent transactions.
Beyond this specific case, cybercrime is a national and global concern.
BROU representatives appeared before the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and referred to specific scams that have been denounced in recent months, but they also spoke about the growth of computer scams in the world.
The president of the bank Salvador Ferrerexposed that hecybersecurity is a current concern and goes hand in hand with technology and digitization. He recalled that a decade ago, one in 10 payments was made digitally. Currently, two out of three are done that way.
“Hand in hand with this increase in digital transactions, the counterpart is the increase in cyber fraud, and the most clearly used modality is phishing“, he claimed. It is the most common type of cybercrime: it involves deceiving people to obtain confidential information, such as passwords or financial data, through identity theft.
To quantify the increase in cybercrime, he used data froml Davos World Economic Forum which manages an important initiative in the field of cybersecurity. He also referred to a report by the international consulting firm McKinsey and to Cybersecurity Ranges, a page specializing in analysis and information on cybercrime. “The benefit associated with cybercrime is estimated in the order of US$ 6 billion per year. To put that figure into perspective, we are talking about approximately four times the benefits of the five most relevant technology companies: Facebook, Google, Tesla, Amazon and Apple”, said Ferrer. He added that another comparison is that that figure would be the size of the world’s third largest economy, after China and the United States.
“These are amounts that exceed the damage that can be inflicted annually by natural disasters. Unfortunately, it represents a more profitable business than anything that comes from the illegal drug trade combined,” he said. And looking forward the prospects are worse. Ferrer indicated that estimates indicate that this figure could reach US$10 billion in 2025.
The president of BROU said that the way to combat this advance of the industry of computer attacks is investing in cybersecurity and preparing institutions and people with prevention and defense. A 2019 Inter-American Development Bank report already warned that Uruguay needed more subject matter experts.
The combat in Uruguay
The second vice president of the institution, Max Sapolinski, also intervened in the commission. He indicated that cybercrimes are not only a banking problem that have become a modality with large dimensions.
“We continually receive emails in this regard,” he mentioned.
remembered that one of the proposals that have been made was that people go to the banks to sign their bank transactions. But he added that that too is problematic. “This country has campaigned strongly in pursuit of financial inclusion. Beyond the fact that we can be more or less critical about the speed, the forms and others in that sense, the world is going in that direction, ”he said.
Sapolinski said that the new generations seek to do everything from their cell phones and it would not be a good initiative to put obstacles in a competing system such as the banking system.
“There must be a balance between security, normal activity and what users want”he pointed.
The improvements proposed by the project
Ferrer alluded in commission to the bill on the definition of crimes. He mentioned that on the one hand he establishes specific figures to classify the crimes and on the other he seeks to advance on tools that can help the financial system in the fight against this type of crime.
He highlighted the proposal of Give financial institutions the opportunity to freeze funds for well-founded reasons of suspicion. This basically implies that there is a reliable report that a movement of funds is taking place as a result of transactions that were unknown or not authorized by the account holder.
Another important element is the creation of a registry, as a kind of “black list”, that contains information that makes it possible to identify and prevent fraudulent transactions.
The project also provides prison sentences for those people who by any means access, seize or modify reserved data of third parties registered in computer media, without authorization from the owner.
Also for those who usurp or appropriate the identity of another natural or legal person using any means to obtain data by accessing bank accounts or digital platforms associated with means of payment, with or without the intention of harming its legitimate owner.
