Though cyber security seems to be every business’ focus of late, many businesses are still being stung. This week, a Somerset plant hire boss has announced that he will be taking legal action after losing £3m. Placing NatWest as the business behind the problem, G. A. Doble Civil Engineering Ltd says that they started to experience issues after using online banking systems.
As a traditional business, using online banking was a big step; one that they are very vocal about regretting, experiencing a huge case of fraud; costing him millions of pounds.
Gerald Doble, who had been using online banking for just a few months shared his experience.
Talking to BBC Points West, he said: “It’s just devastating.”
“The worst part were [sic], on the Wednesday we were told that £2M had gone, and by the Monday they said that £3M had gone.”
So, what happened?
Mr Doble claimed that NatWest installed its Bankline service in 2017; a service that was built to support its corporate customers with day-to-day banking. However, on Tuesday 5th December, the business’ Accountant noticed a problem when issuing payments. Pressing the ‘help’ option, he then received a call from someone claiming to be Natwest.
Informing the business’ Accountant that there were issues with the setup, the fraudster then requested some numbers, pretending he needed them to conduct a re-installation.
Waiting to receive confirmation, the business then received a call from the Metropolitan Police, informing that an act of fraud had been carried out. With £3m having left the business’ account, the hire company will now take legal action against Natwest; a bank that is claiming this was just a ‘coincidence’.
Let us know what you think; should hire businesses be placing more focus on cyber security?
