There’s a new bank scam, and it’s incredibly sophisticated. I’ll expect it to be soon everywhere in Europe, according to a blog article by Georg Hauer, Founder & Managing Director – Hauer Fintech Advisory GmbH.
When your bank card nears expiration, your bank automatically sends a replacement a few weeks early. Normal process. Nothing to worry about.
Now imagine this: A card arrives. The letter looks identical to your usual bank correspondence. Same envelope. Same print. Your name is printed on the card. Except none of it is real.
Fraudsters who know your bank and your card expiration date go to the trouble of printing a fake card and mailing it to you days before your actual replacement shows up. They’re very likely genuine customers of that same bank themselves, which is exactly how they know what the letter and card are supposed to look like, down to the wording.
One detail is different, though: The letter asks you to scan a QR code and enter your banking app credentials to “activate” the card. Do that, and you’ve just handed criminals the keys to your account. Then you get a phone call telling you something went wrong and that you’ll receive a “verification SMS” to read out to the “customer support person” while on the line.
Minutes later, your account is empty.
This is sophisticated because the scam is expensive and can’t be apply in a spray-range. It is highly targeted. They need sensitive information about you, like the expiration date, but unlike the CVV code most people don’t treat it as strictly confidential because its on the front side of the card.
Also, printing such a letter and notably a personalized plastic card, is expensive. Roughly €5-7 if done at scale.
But it works because it is unexpected. And because so far, scams were known to be not risking such high production costs.
Criminals might be some of the most creative people out there. They’d probably do more good in product management or marketing. Until they make that switch, watch out.
And AI which could steer such a scam at full scale, cutting out any manual effort the fraudsters would have all together, exacerbates this problem even further.
This scam first appeared in Portugal, but I expect it to be everywhere in Europe soon. Watch out!
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