Banks will compensate victims of spoofing scams

Banks will retroactively compensate victims of spoofing for their damage. Anyone who has lost money after 1 January 2020 due to this form of scam can get their money back under certain conditions.

One of these conditions is that the victim must not have been ‘grossly negligent.’ Moreover, the crime must have been reported to the police.

Spoofing is a scam where people think they are in contact with the bank, but in reality, they are dealing with scammers. This happens in all kinds of ways, from fake text messages with a link for payment to personal phone calls with fake warnings that their bank account is in danger. The aim is to prompt victims to transfer money to a so-called ‘quarantine account quickly.’

The scammers sometimes work very cleverly. For example, they can make it look like they are actually calling from your bank’s phone number. This makes it more difficult for victims to detect that they are being scammed.

Prior to the new law, this type of scam was not illegal, as ‘the payment is legally initiated by the customer himself/herself.’ Banks are thus not obliged to compensate for the damage. The Lower House of Parliament has recently passed a law that requires banks to take responsibility and pay for damages.

The Gibo Foundation, which stands up for victims of spoofing scams, calls it “fantastic news.” 800 victims have reached out to them. On average, they were scammed of 15,000 euros.