To effectively prevent fraud, all parties must be involved
- Fraud prevention liability must be extended to cover not just banks and telecom operators but also social media platforms and online marketplaces. It is imperative to tackle fraud at the source.
- Banks’ mutual exchange of information on fraud, mule accounts and other suspected criminal activity must be made easier.
- When basic banking services are reformed, legal entities’ right to such services must be restricted to a single account at a time. The possibility of having multiple accounts makes committing fraud easier.
Banks are at the forefront of tackling fraud, but they cannot solve the problem alone. Fraud prevention liability must be extended to cover not just banks and telecom operators but also social media platforms and online marketplaces. At present, social media companies allow scam advertisements on their platforms and generate billions in annual ad revenues from them.
Banks’ exchange of information with other banks and the authorities needs to be improved. This requires the removal of legislative obstacles. Current legislation sets too many limitations in this respect, and banks do not have the ability to warn each other about suspicious money transfers, for example.
Legal entities’ right to basic banking services must be restricted to a single account. Having multiple accounts enables the abuse of the banking system for illegal activities and also enables criminals to obscure the origin of illegally obtained funds, for example.
Efficient crime prevention is part of the financial sector’s social responsibility. Finance Finland regularly runs public campaigns to increase awareness of scams and fraud. Visit the campaign website at Huijaamaton.fi.
