Many people find it difficult to distinguish a phishing email from a real email from the bank. This is shown by a current study by consumer advocates. The victims are often left with the costs.
Is my bank’s email real or just a fraudulent phishing email? Many Germans find it difficult to answer this question. This is the result today published study by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv).
According to this, only 57 percent of those surveyed expressed suspicion of fraud in the phishing emails. However, 38 percent also suspected that real emails were fraudulent. “Cyber criminals’ scams are getting better and better,” said Ramona Pop, board member at vzbv.
Many people are unsettled
Only 24 percent were so sure about the fraudulent intentions of the attacks that they completely refused to address the issue. But 19 percent also refused to respond to the real emails and processes.
This has consequences: 43 percent of the participants who fell for the fraud in the survey stated that they would then massively restrict their digital life and, for example, no longer use online banking.
The Second Payment Services Directive is actually intended to protect consumers from fraud and stipulates that payment service providers such as banks must reimburse damages immediately. “In practice, however, they repeatedly evade this. The European Banking Authority (EBA) recently found that consumers have to pay for the damage in 79 percent of fraudulent transfers,” said Pop.
Demand: Banks should reimburse damages
Banks and other payment service providers repeatedly accuse their customers of “acting with gross negligence” when responding to a fraudulent message. The fraudulent and real emails can hardly be distinguished from each other.
The vzbv therefore demands that banks can no longer block legitimate claims across the board by citing allegedly grossly negligent actions on the part of the injured parties. Instead, they should reimburse damages caused by fraudulent payments. “Consumers need to be confident that their savings are safe,” said Pop.
At the beginning of November last year, 1,035 people were confronted with emails or processes from payment service providers, such as online banking or the setting up of an authentication process, on behalf of the vzbv. Half of the cases presented simulated a fraudulent attack on the payment accounts of those affected.