The National Financial Supervisory Authority (FINE) has resolved some 20 disputes this year involving citizens who have been victims of phishing scams that direct users to fake banking sites to steal their account credentials.
Non-binding decisions have been made, some in favor of customers, but others have relieved banks of liability for losses.
According to the Office of the Financial Ombudsman, customers have undeniably been victims of crime, but the decisive factor in the division of responsibilities between the customer and the bank is how carefully the customer has acted in maintaining the security and safe use of the bank. identification of his debit card and account.
"If the customer is considered to have acted with gross negligence, the losses are also the customer’s responsibility," Tuomas Hidรฉ, FINE’s director of insurance and financial advisory explained in a press release on Monday.
The Bureau has also resolved several cases of phishing scams involving alleged e-mails from Microsoft.
"It feels like we are in constant competition with scammers. The technical skills of criminals are evolving rapidly and the credibility of scams. Target customers of all ages, including people with high technical skills. Some customers have lost large sums of money," Hiden said.
The Financial Supervision Authority is an independent body that is an alternative to the courts in resolving disputes. However, its decisions are not binding.
Hundreds of crime reports have been made
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said in June that Finns have lost millions of euros in fraud in which fraudsters claim to represent banks. According to the NBI, fake websites resembling online banking are cleverly designed and often difficult to identify as scams.
Using an online banking service through a search engine or other links should be avoided, they warned.
"Searching for a bank name on a search engine may not get any real site results at all. Instead, a search engine may offer a fake website as the number one listing," explained the investigating superintendent Petteri Laitila National Bureau of Investigation.
According to police, phishing scams in bank accounts increased in the spring and summer months. About 700 official criminal reports have been made to the police, the victims of which have suffered losses of almost seven million euros.
Source: The Nordic Page
