RBC online banking introduction
I have a story to tell you about how a Royal Bank of Canada online (RBC) customer is out of pocket after a fraud perpetrated on her. The fraud occurred after she used her RBC online banking sign in.
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It is something that everybody does and possibly everyone thinks is a secure transaction. It has to do with the system to move money online made use of over a million times a day in Canada. By telling this tale of the RBC online banking hack, I wish you understand 2 points; 1. it might not be as secure as advertised; 2. you need to be alert in doing whatever you can to shield yourself from the cyberpunks.
RBC online banking: What happened
The woman had gone on vacation with a close friend. A couple of days after they got home she sends her close friend some money she owed her from the journey. Her good friend called the following early morning to claim she could not deposit the transfer. When she tried to deposit the cash, a message showed up claiming that the cash had already been transferred! The sender’s initial thought was what a funny friend she had. She cannot get an easy e-transfer and does not know how to use the system. They also laughed about it.
Her pal consistently sends out and gets money by e-transfer. She understands what she is doing. The e-transfer did not work. The lady quickly examined her savings account. The cash was gone.
RBC online banking fraud department
They rapidly met with each other and called the RBC online banking fraud division on speakerphone. The women advised of the situation. The fraud department informed them they know the cash really did not go to the good friend. As a matter of fact, they provided the name of the person that got the cash and his email address!
They were stunned by 3 points. First, they never came across anyone with that name or email address. Second, they could not understand that over the telephone, the RBC online banking people would divulge that information. Third, the RBC online banking system did not let the Bank know the name and email address of the friend who was supposed to receive the money.
The woman then said to the RBC online banking fraud department, alright, please reimburse my account. However, RBC would not do that. They told her they couldn’t yet decide who was hacked – the RBC customer or her friend. They suggested she quickly get to her branch to sort it out. As you will read further, she quickly learned that being defrauded in a digital money transfer is not the same as if someone stole and cashed a cheque you wrote that was intercepted in the mail.
RBC online banking: Going to the Bank
She went to the Bank. Her friend went home. She reached the branch within 5 minutes of hanging up the phone. After half-an-hour of talking with the Bank people, they told her that it had not been her that was hacked. Rather, it was her good friend.
So she told her close friend what RBC said. They went together to the local police station and filed a report. She gave a duplicate of the cops’ report to both the RBC online banking fraud group and the RCMP Commercial Crime division.
RBC continues to contend that it was not their customer’s computer or email that was hacked either as part of the RBC online banking sign in or otherwise. Rather, it was her friend’s computer system and email that was hacked. To date, RBC has refunded their customer only half of the amount lost. They stated that it was only as a goodwill gesture and they are not taking any responsibility for the RBC online banking hack.
How we can protect ourselves from an RBC online banking hack?
There are a few more facts that I have saved for this section of the blog. The reason I did that is that it will show us what additional things we can do ourselves to better protect all of us. Hopefully, can all learn from this RBC online banking sign-in and Interac e-money transfer debacle.
The obvious first step is having up to date and proper anti-virus security on all of our computers. This security must also extend to our mobile devices, as so much of banking is now done that way. Many people use the RBC online banking mobile banking app. If you are not an RBC customer, I am sure that you use your Bank’s mobile banking app. For mobile, this would require us to be using a virtual private network (VPN). Consumer VPN systems are so easy to set up and inexpensive. They protect our private and sensitive information from hackers.
When someone sends an e-transfer of money, you are sending it either to someone on your approved list and therefore the money is automatically deposited. If it is to an email address not on your approved list, then you have to set a security question. The security question is either something only the person you are sending the money to would know or, you have to provide them with the answer. Without the proper answer, they cannot obtain their money.
In this case, the woman’s security question was something that her friend knew. The security question was “who is my favourite Beatle?”. Sounds simple, right? Well not if you have been hacked, there are only 4 possible answers and the e-transfer system gives you 4 tries to get it right!
So it was very simple for the hacker. The whole universe of possible correct answers was 4 and the system gives you 4 tries. The woman would not have known that the system gives you 4 attempts to answer properly. What this shows us is we need to establish a more complicated question and answer that a stranger hacker could not possibly know.
Cybercrime is an ongoing problem. The Equifax data hack is a case of a large corporation being hacked. The reality is that our home computers are so simple to protect. It is the large complicated systems that are more vulnerable. That is unless you have done nothing to protect your home computer from hackers.
RBC online banking conclusion
I hope this sad story has helped you gain a better understanding of what to do to better protect ourselves from cybercrime. Question: Have you or your company been the victim of a hacker, including identity theft? Has something like the RBC online banking data breach ever caused you to lose money and now you have trouble making your monthly payments? Is your business dealing with financial challenges that require to be addressed immediately?
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