Security Tips For Digital Banking

Information you need to know to stay safe

The online world is full of scams and fraud, and if you don't know how to protect yourself from them, you’d be jeopardising your financial security. Read on to find out how you can stay safe while banking online.

How Can You Protect Yourself?

We will never ask for sensitive information like your Digital Banking user ID or password, account number, credit/debit card number, CVV, PIN, OTP, answers to verify your identity, etc.

Please do not provide or share these details via email/SMS or on calls received from individuals claiming to be from RAKBANK.

Kindly report any suspicious activity immediately to reportphishing@rakbank.ae. You can also call our Phone Banking unit at 04 213 0000 to confirm if the call you have received was legitimate.

Secure Banking

Secure your computer

Always use a trusted computer and avoid using a shared or public computer for banking.
Ensure your computer is equipped with an antivirus and firewall to prevent malware infection.
Update your computer regularly, especially the antivirus software, web browser and operating system.

Do not miss important banking signposts designed to provide you with fraud-detection information

Type in the bank's website address to browse the bank's web page.
Do not use your banking password for anything else, such as your email account.
Pay attention to the last logged-in date and time.
Periodically review your beneficiaries to ensure only beneficiaries added by you are present in your account.

Be careful while travelling

Consider enabling roaming when out of the country so that you do not miss important notifications from RAKBANK.
Do not use unsecure Wi-Fi access points like those at airports.

Common Fraud Scenarios - Phishing

Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

Look for a secure connection. This is usually identified by a green area in the address bar, along with https in the URL.
Look at the domain of the URL. Here is an example:
The domain of RAKBANK is rakbank.ae, while the domain of RAKBANK Digital Banking is retail.rakbankonline.ae/DigiRetailWeb/auth, and so on. Check and make sure that the domain is as it should be, and not something bizarre with spelling errors.
Look at the site itself. If it doesn’t look exactly like the site you’re always used to, it may be a scam site. You can double check by opening a new tab and visiting the main page of the site you think you’re on (if possible). If they’re quite different, then you’re more than likely dealing with a phishing site.

Common Fraud Scenarios - Vishing

Vishing is the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The scammer usually pretends to be a legitimate business, and fools the victim into thinking he or she will profit.

As a rule of thumb, don’t give out any information over the phone if you’re unsure of who’s calling. If you have any doubts at all, hang up. Credit cards, bills and bank statements should all feature customer service numbers that you can use to see if the call you just received was legitimate.

Common Fraud Scenarios - Smishing

Smishing (also known as SMShing) is the mobile phone version of phishing. An example of smishing fraud would be a text message that appears to be sent from a legitimate source, such as a bank or credit card company, that urgently requests the recipient to call a phone number or follow a link in the message. The phone number or website will then ask for sensitive account or personal information.

Never take action on a request for your personal or financial information, including account numbers, passwords, Social Security number or birth date. If you receive a text message expressing an urgent need for you to update your information, activate an account, or verify your identity by calling a phone number or submitting information on a website, do not respond and delete it. These messages may be part of a phishing scam conducted by fraudsters in an attempt to capture your confidential account information and may be used to commit fraud.

Common Fraud Scenarios - Malware and Ransomware

Malware is an umbrella term used to refer to various forms of hostile or intrusive software, including computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other malicious programs.

Ransomware is a security threat that has data-kidnapping capabilities. It is a malicious software that denies you access to your computer or files until you pay a ransom.

Ensure anti-virus software is updated on both your office and home PCs.
Bookmark websites to ensure you do not accidentally mistype an incorrect address and do not trust links sent over SMS, instant messaging and email from unknown sources.
Be wary of free screensavers, games, browser add-ons, peer-to-peer (P2P) clients, and any downloads claiming to be cracked or free versions of expensive applications, such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office.

Common Fraud Scenarios - Email Spoofing

Email spoofing is the forgery of an email header so that the message appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual source. Spam distributors often use spoofing to get recipients to open and possibly even respond to their solicitations. Spoofing can be used legitimately.

Always look for the content of the email. Spoofed emails look like they were sent from a legitimate source. However, you can determine if it’s a spoofed email if it seems to be asking you for confidential information like user name, password, bank account number, etc.
Sometimes the email may even look like it is from a legitimate source and has some kind of an attachment or link to a website which can further ask you to furnish confidential information.
If in doubt, don't hesitate to get in touch with our contact centre and have it confirmed with a call centre agent.

Common Fraud Scenarios - Shoulder Surfing

Shoulder surfing, in computer security, refers to using direct observation techniques, such as looking over someone's shoulder, to get information. It is commonly used to obtain passwords, PINs, security codes, and similar data.

When working on a laptop, ensure that your back is to a wall with no open sides close to you or to enter your passwords in a secluded location.
When keying in a PIN at an ATM, make sure no one is standing right behind you.

Relevant links

Report Fraudarrow_forward

How to Prevent Fraudarrow_forward