Electronic fraud poses threat to businesses

THE ANZ bank says while cheque fraud remains the dominant threat to financial institutions and businesses in PNG, electronic fraud is picking up.
The bank has told businesses that understanding online safety has never been more important.
Head of ANZ Group Investigations David McGowan said during customer events in Port Moresby and Lae recently, that Papua New Guinea was still very much paper-and-cash-based where cheque and cash transactions were the common means of settlement.
“Cheque fraud will continue to target businesses with the common ones being washed, counterfeit, stolen and forgery cheque frauds,” he said.
In the past five years, ANZ observed that cybercrime was picking up in PNG, especially electronic fraud, as a result of the evolving use of technology and the lack of strong systems and processes put in place by businesses to protect them.
“ANZ has seen twice the number of electronic fraud attempts worth over K1.8 million,” McGowan said.
“Cybercriminals have historically targeted banks because that is where the money is.
“However these days, the threat landscape has evolved and all kinds of businesses, regardless of size, location and maturity, are a target.”
Businesses are being attacked from all angles, with most common routes of attacks being card-skimming, credit card fraud, merchant fraud and phishing.
ANZ is continuing to strengthen its systems and processes to detect and prevent such malicious activities and enhance security features on its products and services to protect the business and its customers.
McGowan said everyone including financial institutions, businesses, communities and law enforcers had a role to play in preventing and responding to cybercrime.
Having a robust cyber-security posture is essential for anyone doing business in this digital world including in PNG.
“For businesses, it’s about understanding their businesses, going over the training aspect with their staff about getting the simple processes and systems right, and collaborate with other PNG businesses to understand how they are doing their business and what controls they have in place,” McGowan said.
ANZ PNG’s chief executive Mark Baker said raising cyber-security awareness and skills in PNG businesses was essential.