DBS uses behavioural research and the newest technology in its continuous battle against scammers to protect its clients and their money. From simple schemes to more intricate strategies that depend on establishing trust with their targets, scammers use more complex techniques to take advantage of victims. Let us see how DBS is using technology to stop scams.
Scammers frequently pose as long-time friends who want to reconnect or offer remote work possibilities with high salary guarantees. Knowing that people are more inclined to follow instructions when they perceive that they are coming from a higher authority, they also pose as reputable organizations like banks, government offices, or law enforcement.
Because typical security procedures are intended to detect suspicious transactions or unauthorized access rather than those requested by the account user, authorized scams are especially difficult to detect and prevent.
The DBS Behavioural Science Team can help with this. “As behavioural scientists at DBS, we study and analyse scam tactics to figure out how scammers take advantage of human biases and weaknesses, and we develop targeted communication techniques to counter that,” Mr Kim Jung Kyun said. “It’s comparable to the work of a data scientist, but we analyse data with an emphasis on the psychological aspects and mechanisms at work rather than interpreting raw data.”
To move the customer from a “hot” state, when impulsive choices become more likely, to a “cold” state of peaceful thinking, the team also searches for strategic times to implement cognitive breaks, which are deliberate pauses in the journey of the client. Customers have an opportunity to revaluate their behaviour and analyse the validity of the purchase during these pauses.
For example, the team capitalized the phrase “STOP” in the text message that is sent when PayLah! is set up on a mobile device to encourage the customer to verify their purchase if they did not make the request. Additionally, the message is split in half, with a deliberate temporal break between the initial and subsequent SMS to give clients an opportunity to reconsider their actions.
The Arrival of The One-Time Password
Our top concern is still keeping our customers safe when they bank online. As a component of our multi-pronged fraud defence, DBS:
- Utilize secure technology and procedures to guarantee that our clients’ money and information are protected whenever they conduct online banking. For instance, when our clients transact online, we use multi-factor authentication.
- Establish a specialized anti-scam staff with 24-hour response capability to handle intervention tasks and keep an eye on and evaluate fraud signals. To guarantee prompt freezing of any suspicious or hacked accounts, the squad consists of full-time staff members based at the Singapore Police Force’s anti-scam centre.
- Use our sophisticated monitoring and surveillance technologies to screen transactions and identify any unauthorized activity on customer accounts. This enables us to filter for anomalous transfers, prohibit flagged transfers, cross-reference unexpected account changes, and identify noticeable changes in user behaviour trends.
- DBS do not offer any kind of integration services to third-party websites that have not been thoroughly verified by our internal teams, and our approach to integrating with external platforms such as accounting systems or marketplaces is tightly regulated by internal due diligence. The banking services must be provided by users utilizing their current login credentials and security procedures when they use these external platforms or marketplaces.
You can be sure that your money and deposits are secure. DBS share information regarding recent scams. Additionally, DBS updates advice and provide tips on how to protect yourself from them.
By mid-February 2022, the most recent updates were accessible through push messages on the DBS IDEAL mobile app and when logging into DBS IDEAL. Accessibility to DBS IDEAL will be blocked upon suspicion of user account compromise to stop any transactions from being authorized through DBS IDEAL.
