Scammers are constantly renewing their techniques to trick you. Some even attack your bank account directly and a large number of French people are victims of these scams. Among the most used methods is phishing. As a reminder, this is a scam that consists of sending you an email or an SMS inviting you to click on a link or asking you to send your bank details in response.
According to INSEE, in 2019, 42.5% of French people testified to having received a fraudulent message. Between 2018 and 2019, 49.5% of people say they have been victims of or exposed to these techniques in France. Even more, 47.7% of them suffered these frauds more than three times. Over this same period, 71.8% reported to institutions tracking these identity thefts.
According to the 2021 annual report of the Observatory for the security of means of payment of the Banque de France, 34% of fraud is done by bank card. Even more, “fraud in scriptural transactions amounted to 1.242 billion euros, up 8.5%” compared to 2020, specifies the study.
One of the most vulnerable payment channels is payment by credit card over the Internet. Just behind him, we find the check and then the payment by contactless card by phone. The instant transfer then comes in fourth place. So it would be easy for scammers to get our data through our online payments. So, what are the good habits to adopt to avoid all types of scams? What are the gestures to ban?
To fight against fraud, one of the first points to implement is strong authentication or double authentication. Indeed, most French banks now offer customers to install this system for online transactions. It even works for transfers you want to send from your account. Some banks encourage adding a password or even a fingerprint.
To set up this authentication, simply go to your online account in the section related to security. You can then add a specific password. With each online transaction, the site redirects you to a page set up by your bank. It then asks you to authenticate yourself with your password and a code sent by SMS. The Postal Bank and BNP Paribas apply this method.
Other reflexes can be adopted to avoid fraud.
To prevent fraud, you can also go to your bank’s website, which generally reports current scams and gives advice to adopt. If you also think you’ve been the victim of a call from a bogus adviser, start by calling your own to verify the latter’s identity.
In addition, other frequent errors are to be abandoned. If you are used to saving your bank details on merchant sites, remove them now. Indeed, this system facilitates identity theft as well as the theft of your data. This also works for bank details sent to your loved ones. If you have already sent this type of message, consider deleting it immediately after it is received by your contact.
In general, never communicate this data either on sites, or by email or SMS.
