Fraud ABC
Criminals come up with all kinds of ways to steal your money. This is called fraud. Types of fraud include phishing, bank helpdesk fraud or courier fraud. But what do all these terms actually mean? Read about the main types of fraud on this page.
Types of fraud
A criminal pretends to be a bank employee, and calls you to tell you that suspicious activities have been detected on your account. They make an appointment to visit you at your home to resolve the issue.
Bank helpdesk fraud is when a criminal calls you pretending to be a Rabobank employee, tells you that your money is not safe and that they want to help you keep it safe.
Boiler room fraud is a type of investment fraud. Criminals persuade you, for example, to invest in a project that sounds like it’s going to be successful. It often starts with small amounts, but they soon ask for larger amounts.
You receive a message with an urgent order for a payment that appears to come from the director (CEO) or a manager within your company. The name is correct and because of the time pressure you forget to check the email address or account number.
You respond to an interesting message about cryptocurrency and someone contacts you pretending to be a ‘financial advisor’. They offer you support with your investments. In the beginning, they help you to start buying cryptocurrency using a crypto platform to gain your trust. They eventually disappear, along with your cryptocurrency.
In the case of dating fraud, criminals try and gain your trust and win your affections through social media or dating apps and then ask for money.
With inheritance fraud, criminals try and convince you that you have received an inheritance. To obtain the inheritance you have to pay various costs.
Criminals send you a fake invoice by post or email in the hope that you will pay it. This could be an invoice with a fake account number, an outstanding invoice that you do not actually have to pay or from a company that may not even exist.
A money mule allows criminals to use their payment account, debit card and PIN to launder money, sometimes without their knowledge.
A criminal is able to get hold of your identity data. For example, via an online advertisement or with a ‘phishing mail’. They use that data to pretend to be you. This is identity fraud.
Criminals offer you a loan that sounds too good to be true. They promise low interest rates, quick approval and no BKR check.
Fake stores are online stores that are often only online for a short time and allow criminals to quickly make as much money as possible. If you buy something from the fake online store, you receive fake items or nothing at all. Criminals may also use your credit card details or other personal information.
Banking malware is malicious software that allows criminals to make payments in your Rabo App without you noticing.
QR code scams exist because people with bad intentions try and get you to make a payment quickly. You scan a QR code for a payment request and the money goes to the criminals.
Criminals ‘fish’ for your personal data, which is called phishing. You might, for example, receive an email from Rabobank. At least, it looks like it comes from us. The email, letter or text message was not sent by us but by a criminal who is trying to get hold of your personal data or security codes.
In this case, it appears that criminals are calling from Rabobank or another bank’s number, when they are not. With spoofing, the criminal conceals who is actually calling. These are usually telephone numbers, which means that a call, text message or WhatsApp message appears to originate from Rabobank when that is not the case. But they also use email addresses or website links.
Criminals call you and pretend to be employees of major software companies such as Microsoft, Google or your internet service provider. They try and steal your money by pretending you have computer problems that don’t exist.
Did you receive an email informing you that you have been selected from hundreds of candidates for a top position? Be careful, this could be a case of employment fraud, also called a job scam.
This is when you have made a down payment, after which the salesperson can no longer be contacted. Or you have transferred shipping costs for a purchase you never receive.
This is when someone pretends to be a friend or family member and asks you to urgently pay a bill.
Veiligbankieren.nl
Dutch banks work together to combat fraud. The Dutch Banking Association (NVB) developed the website veiligbankieren.nl. Check it out to obtain more information about the various types of fraud.