¢700 Million Colones
Lost To Internet Banking
Thefts
Costa Rican authorities
are asking users of
internet banking to be
wary of being scammed,
keeping a close watch on
activity in their
account and keeping
their password secure,
to avoid being the next
victim.
According to figures
released by the
Investigación Judicial (OIJ)
more than 400 people
have been victims of
"Click here", losing
more than ¢700 million
colones (us$1.4 million
dollars) from their bank
account to scam artists.
However, that figure may
be as high as double
that.
Jorge Rojas, director of
the OIJ, said that at
one state bank alone
more than ¢120 million
colones has been lost,
though he would not
reveal the name of the
bank.
Authorities fear that
the number of internet
scams and thefts will
increase over the
holiday season,
especially with the wave
of "aguinaldo" -
Christmas bonus - that
is currently being paid
to all salaried
employees.
Judicial and banking
authorities have the
following
recommendations to avoid
being a victim:
- Change your password
frequently, if possible,
after each visit to your
online account
- Make your password
hard to copy, combine
letters and numbers and
use upper and lower case
in the combination
- Limit the access to
your online account and
if you have others
accessing it, ensure
that is only of people
of absolute trust
- Do not download
programs, games and
other material if the
source is unknown or
unsolicited
- Careful of emails, the
most common way of "phishing",
a way of getting your
personal information
through an email that
appears to be legitimate
from your bank, asking
for an update of
personal information
Customers of state
banks, Banco Nacional,
Banco de Costa Rica and
Banco Popular, have all
been target of internet
scams, losing millions
of colones from their
accounts and nobody to
turn to, as the banks
are not the loser, they
are unwilling to come to
the aid of their
victims.
Although customers have
charged the banks for
the losses, saying that
it should be the bank's
responsibility to
provide proper security,
the banks have said that
any losses suffered from
online scams is not
their responsibility and
leaves the customers to
file charges with the
OIJ to recover their
losses.
So far the customers of
private banks have not
been targeted, or at
least there have been no
public reports of losses
there.
Remember how hard it has
been to save and don't
be a victim to fraud
artists who are looking
to cash in on a quick
buck or colon by taking
advantage of your
trusting nature.
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