By Ekua Botchwey

How would you feel if you lost all your years of investment with the bank and realized you are the cause?

It happens. There are certain dangerous habits that we do not pay attention to at the banking hall, which result in our devastating end.

The Banking hall

The banking hall is a place for business, specifically banking, which brings together customers, prospects, and even strangers.

The bank's basic function of trading in money is expressed at the banking hall.

These banking activities are done between the bank's employees or officials and its customers. Some of these activities are deposits, withdrawals, money transfers, investments, securing properties, and loan requests.

However, as these activities go on in the banking hall, the bank is faced with all kinds of risk. The nature of these banking activities poses some kind of threat or risk to the bank, affecting its clients.

Some of these risks are as follows:

1. Operational risk: it is the loss due to how things are done by the bank, caused by internal processes, people, or systems failings.

2. Technological risk: the risk of the bank's technology failing.

3. Cyber-attack risk: the risk of cyber-attack on the bank.

4. Reputational risk: how events and actions have the ability to damage the reputation of the bank.

5. Credit risk: the risk that the bank's borrowers may not be able to pay their loans.

Bad people then capitalize on these risks to cause harm to the operations of the bank. However, another type of risk that is eminent with the nature of the bank's operations is fraud risk.

With fraud risk, there is a possibility of failure using systems, people, and processes.

Fraud

Fraud is a calculated act of deceit done to another for financial gains or unfair advantage.

With fraud, misrepresentations are done in many ways (personalities, information, or intentions) just to deceive another for an advantage. In the banking hall, there is the risk of customers falling victim to fraud. How?

Customers’ vulnerabilities are exploited by others who equally come to the banking hall for business. They manipulate customers into achieving certain unfair advantages. Fraud risk, therefore, refers to the possibility that a business, an individual, or a system might involve itself in deceptive activities as it yearns to achieve a financial gain or other benefits. It is therefore very important to take notes and avoid certain habits in the banking hall that may render people victims of fraud.

Some 10 dangerous habits in the banking hall are:

1. Leaving your identification card at the banking hall:

Identification is one of the basic requirements for performing banking transactions.

It has the personal details of the holder, which need to be kept safely. It may be a driver's license, a passport, a citizenship card, or even a staff card. When left behind, bad persons possibly can access your personal information using your identification card to perform some other transactions on your behalf without your consent. E.g., during teller fraud, money could be paid to your stolen card by impersonation, without your presence and knowledge.

Teller fraud occurs when a teller of a bank engages in fraudulent activities such as making unauthorized transfers, accepting or issuing cloned checks, or using someone's personal information to make transactions without their authorization.

2. Forgetting your check book in the banking hall after a transaction:

All manner of persons come to the bank for business or information, including prospects and thieves.

Thieves or fraudsters intentionally go to the bank posing as prospects to monitor everything that goes on in the bank. They monitor cash withdrawals, money transfer control numbers (MTCN), signatures of customers, and more. When you leave your check book in the banking hall, you risk getting it into the hands of these fraudsters for cloning. They can use the cloned check book for fraudulent withdrawals if the check is not stopped quickly.

You can do this by reporting to the bank.

3. Not counting your cash withdrawal before leaving the bank:

It is advisable that you count your money withdrawn at the counter before leaving the bank hall. This act is a confirmation of your withdrawal request and the cash paid to you. This helps correct shortages or overages from the teller that may occur. If the money is bulky to count with the hand, request for it to be counted at the back office for your observation.

When these are not done before leaving the banking hall, it becomes difficult to trace and solve any customer withdrawal dissatisfactions that may arise.

Cash suppression, which is another form of fraud, can be avoided.

4. Making calls in the banking hall:

Making calls in the banking hall is a risky thing to do.

This is because information within the premises could be sent out by the caller, or information about the caller itself could be sent to outsiders by an eavesdropper. When people make calls in the bank, they unconsciously disclose their current location, the amount of money they are withdrawing or depositing, and their next move after leaving the bank. This is of great security concern. This act gives bad people who may be around much information to perpetuate fraudulent acts.

5. Having louder conversations with others about your transaction:

Louder conversations in the banking hall disclose your financial details to others or give others access to your transaction. E.g., in mentioning your MTCN to the teller, your transaction can be stolen when you are loud in your delivery. Bad people have the skill of swiftly listening to details and sending them to fraudulent tellers at other banks for payout. Transaction theft is possible because it doesn't take much time in paying out such money transfer transactions. You may fall victim to the teller fraud if not careful with such a habit.

6. Making non-bank employees assist you in bank transactions:

Not everyone you see at the banking hall is an employee of the bank. Some people equally come for inquiries, and others come in as escorts. Be aware that you just don't call anyone for help with processing your bank transactions.

It is advisable to turn to the customer service desk for any form of assistance if need be.

Calling just a random person at the bank may involve a non-bank employee in your business, which is risky and may result in fraud.

7. Exposing your MTCN to non-bank employees or strangers in the bank:

Customers, especially older ones, often call for help in filling out bank forms when transacting business at the bank. It is dangerous to expose your MTCN, which indirectly hands your money to strangers in the name of seeking their help with filling your form. You may call the wrong person for help, who may end up stealing your MTCN to be paid out elsewhere. That presumed helper can immediately forward your MTCN through text with your exposed ID number to a fraudulent teller for verification and payment at a different bank before it gets to your turn to be paid by the teller.

You would then be told the transaction is already paid.

Avoid exposing your MTCN in the banking hall.

8. Exposing your bank card, PIN, and password to strangers or even bank officials in the bank:

Sometimes customers call for help in withdrawing cash from the ATM or expose their passwords to banking officials during password resets.

A bank card is like a wallet that holds your cash and must therefore be held with a high sense of security.

If exposed, details on it could be stolen and used by hackers to commit fraudulent activities.

9. Using data of strangers for your KYC:

KYC stands for "know your customer."

It is data that the bank collects about the client in order to get to know them and establish a positive banking relationship. It is also carried out when a client opens an account. Clients may experience problems with the account later on if they neglect to supply the correct information during KYC or if they receive data from outsiders. Due to the anomalies that may be discovered while accessing the account, such a client will have difficulties in operating that account as the bank performs standard tasks, such as onboarding, meeting legal requirements, and checks on money laundering activities.

The account could be red-flagged for suspicions of fraud.

10. Leaving your keys at the banking hall:

Customers’ car keys and house keys are popular items mostly found in the banking hall being misplaced. Customers show less concern about these things after being served or done with their transactions.

If these items are not immediately noticed and kept safely by bank officials, they may get into the hands of bad people who come into the bank for their own personal gains.

These keys could be cloned and later used for criminal activities or even burglary.

These are a few habits that must be avoided in the banking hall for security reasons, the protection of our accounts, and lives in general.

What do you also think?

Share your experience if you have suffered from any of these habits.