13th October 2020
Discover Mark's tips on how to stay safe.
SureCloud Managing Cybersecurity Consultant, Mark Wardlow, featured on BBC One’s Rip Off Britain on Monday 12th October, discussing the common threat of online banking fraud.
In the episode, the presenters Gloria Hunniford, Angela Ripon and Julia Somerville highlight a particular case in the North East of England, whereby a Barclays customer had thought she was on the phone with her bank but was in fact tricked into sharing her home address and personal details with a fraudster.
The scammer then sent a ‘new’ card reader to her home, hopeful that they could convince the victim to put her card and PIN into the device and reveal the resulting passcode from it. Luckily, the individual reported the incident to the authorities, but sadly this isn’t always the case.
Mark worked behind the scenes with the team from Rip Off Britain to analyse the card reader sent to the victim and offers advice on how consumers can protect themselves moving forward. He provides further advice here:
The key issue with this type of scam is that if it isn’t your own that has been kept in a safe place, you can’t always be certain someone hasn’t tampered with the card reader. To help protect yourself, make sure you don’t use anyone else’s card reader. If you receive an unsolicited card reader or if you think it has been tampered with, contact your bank and destroy the card reader immediately.
Commenting on the issue of card reader scams, Mark Wardlow said: “In this case, the pure act of sending the card reader to the victim was to build trust and follow-up with a phone call. Once they have contacted the individual involved, the fraudsters sole intention is to gain information from the card reader to ultimately take money from the victim’s account.”
Mark is a managing cybersecurity consultant specialising in infrastructure and manages one of the penetration testing teams within SureCloud. Mark’s responsibilities include team management, engagement scoping, client relationships, and consultancy delivery of complex projects. He has 16+ years of experience working within the IT industry, with particular experience in working with enterprise organisations and public bodies. Mark is a CHECK Team Leader, Crest Certified Infrastructure Tester and Microsoft Certified Professional.
SureCloud delivers its services through a cloud-based platform, offering a suite of pragmatic and integrated Cybersecurity, Risk, and Advisory services. SureCloud provides you with confidence and assurance that your cybersecurity and risk postures are defined and managed. Utilizing decades of combined experience, our team of accredited Consultants works alongside you to understand your business objectives, security, compliance and risk requirements, and how these can be affected by the evolving cyber threats of the modern world.