National Bank warns about swindlers
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, April 24
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) urges citizens to pay special attention when using financial and personal data in the web space.
The bank says that the facts of stealing personal data of financial institution users through fraudulent websites have recently become more frequent.
“This refers to such information as the number of credit or debit cards and the CVC code on the other side of the card,” the statement of the NBG reads.
The Bank urges citizens not to tell anyone their Internet Bank, Mobile Bank, Electronic Username, password and security codes.
“By obtaining these data, swindlers carry out unauthorized transfers,” the NBG said.
The National Bank explains that this form of fraud is called phishing.
“It is a cybercrime, during which a person or an organization gets a message via e-mail, telephone, social networks, short text messages or other forms to share their data. One of the biggest phishing targets are financial institutions and their customers,” the statement reads.
The NBG listed several recommendations that will help the users to protect themselves from the fraud and swindling:
- Do not transfer your personal data to unknown people or sources
- Check that the website is correct
- Evaluate the interface of the website – graphics, logos, texts, spelling
- Take extreme caution with financial proposals in social networks
- Check who owns the website and when it was created
- Make sure the payment method indicated by the website is reliable, authorized and protected.
Papuna Lezhava, Vice-President of the National Bank of Georgia, also called for the maximum caution when carrying out online payments or orders.
“The cases of personal data theft have intensified in the recent period, especially through social media. I want to warn the residents that you are the first defense mechanism to protect your information and to pay attention when you are inserting your data on different websites," said Lezhava.
In addition to the NBG bank, other private banks in Georgia have also sent notifications to their customers, warning about the existing risks of personal data usage on the internet.
Phishing is an attempt to trick people into giving out personal information such as bank account numbers, passwords and credit card numbers.
