Short description
Russian bank Alfa-Bank has introduced a new reverse verification system for its mobile app to enable customers to verify that they are talking to an employee of the bank. A unique, one-time code can be generated through the mobile app and read over the phone to the user, who can then verify the caller’s employee status by asking for the code to be repeated. Initially, only security service employees are to be verified but the bank hopes to offer the service for staff across the organisation. The bank was placed under US Treasury sanctions in April 2018.
“Alfa-Bank” implemented reverse verification of employees to protect against fraudsters
The reverse verification mechanism will help users make sure that they are not talking to an intruder, but to a real employee of Alfa-Bank.
If the client receives a call, he can make sure that it is not a scammer by generating a unique one-time code in the Alfa-Bank application.
The link to the page for generating the code comes in a push notification and is displayed on the main screen of the mobile application. After that, the client can ask the employee to name the code and thus verify it.
The function will be available on the latest two versions of iOS applications recommended by the bank, as well as on the Android application version 11.60 and above. Employee verification is available in the mobile application itself. The employee will not send an SMS and asks the customer to name the code.
At the initial stage, clients will be able to verify employees of Alfa-Bank’s security service, later clients will have the opportunity to identify any employee of the organization.
On April 6, the US Ministry of Finance introduced full blocking sanctions against “Sber” and “Alfa-Bank”. The sanctions include freezing the assets of the banks and banning US citizens and companies from doing business with them.
On April 15, the mobile application of “Alfa-Bank” disappeared from the App Store. On May 27, the bank announced the shutdown of its application for iOS devices. Referring to the outdated version, the developers of Alfa-Bank warned about the termination of support for the program through notifications inside the service.
