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Phishing shifts to text messages and WhatsApp

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In the first half of 2019, losses from payments fraud caused by phishing and debit card fraud rose by around one third.

Stack of payment cards on keyboard being pierced by a fishing hook as a symbol of online fraud and phishing.

In recent months, banks have received a striking number of reports from customers about phishing through mobile messaging services such as text messages, WhatsApp and Messenger. This is shown by the fraud figures from Dutch banks collected and reported by the Dutch Payments Association and the Dutch Banking Association(opens in new window) .
In recent months, banks’ phishing reporting centres (in Dutch)(opens in new window) have received almost twice as many reports about phishing through mobile messaging services as about phishing by email. The attempted fraud often starts on a trading platform such as Marktplaats or Speurders.

Debit card fraud via text messages

Large numbers of fake text messages are also used to trick cardholders into posting their debit card (in Dutch)(opens in new window) to a supposed recycling company and entering their PIN on a fake website purporting to belong to their bank.

Losses from fraud involving debit cards that had been posted, stolen or lost increased in the first half of 2019, from €2 million in the second half of last year to €2.59 million in the first half of this year. Fraudsters are increasingly using text messages to deceive cardholders.

The common thread in banking fraud via text messages and mobile messaging services (in Dutch)(opens in new window) is that victims are lured to a fake website using a pretext and a link. The fake website looks almost identical to that of their own bank or a familiar mobile payment service. Victims are then asked to enter their online banking security codes.

In the second half of 2018, losses caused by phishing for bank security codes amounted to €2.36 million. In the first six months of 2019, this had risen to €3.08 million.

How to avoid becoming a victim yourself (in Dutch)…(opens in new window)

See also: Fraud in payments since 2014…(opens in new window)

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