Police warn: Fake bank employees are up to mischief in Güssing!

Police warn: Fake bank employees are up to mischief in Güssing!

In the Güssing district, the state police department is sounding the alarm: A current fraud scam masquerading as a fake bank employee has already made a 69-year-old man a target. In a telephone conversation, the elderly gentleman was manipulated and asked to reveal his account details. Even more tragically, he also gave the fraudster remote access to his bank account. In the end, several debits were made - the financial damage was in the mid-five-digit euro range. The police have started an investigation to catch the fraudster and prevent further victims. meinkreis.at reports that such cases are occurring more and more frequently and that protective measures for prevention urgently need to be strengthened.

But how can bank customers protect themselves from such nasty fraud? It is important to be wary of fraudsters who contact you via telephone or other channels and pose as bank employees. An example shows how creativity and audacity come into play on the part of fraudsters: They try to get account holders to release so-called pushTANs. If someone falls for such a trap, it can have fatal consequences, as shown by the case of a plaintiff who lost 10,000 euros due to a similar incident and whose bank excused itself by saying that it was an authorized transfer because the plaintiff had released the TAN. ra-kotz.de states that here too the judges had to make clarifying judgments in order to decide whether and how bank customers should be liable for such losses.

The methods of the fraudsters

Fraudsters often use sophisticated tricks to obtain personal information. They claim that data comparison via bank apps is necessary. This makes many bank customers become careless. For example, an account holder confirmed having installed a digital card, which ultimately led to irregularities amounting to over 6,700 euros. But in this case, the Darmstadt Regional Court ruled in favor of the customer because no gross negligence could be determined, which shows that not all errors are the customer's responsibility. test.de highlights the versatility with which these fraudsters operate and warns urgently about the resulting risks.

Particularly strange cases are not uncommon: In the case of a savings bank customer, the Cologne Regional Court ruled that, despite a large sum, the bank had not made a serious error when it reimbursed the losses of a customer who had lost 14,000 euros. The common practice of fraudsters is to pretend to be employees of the bank or another service provider in order to confuse and manipulate customers. It is often up to banks to react quickly to protect their customers.

Finally, it remains to be said: protection against such fraud is crucial. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a bank employee, always be skeptical and never give out any personal information. If you have any doubts, it's best to contact your bank directly to find out whether a call actually came from their side. It is up to each and every one of us to protect ourselves and share information about such scams so that we can become safer together.