Banks and the Ministry of the Economy will launch a campaign to alert the French to the risks of payment fraud.
The French Banking Federation (FBF), the Ministry of the Economy and the Bank of France are launching a prevention campaign on Saturday encouraging the French “to strengthen their vigilance in the face of attempted payment fraud”. The message is simple: “Banking codes, passwords and identifiers: never give out this data.”
Payment fraud “affects our fellow citizens in their everyday lives”, deplored the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, in a press release dated Thursday. Welcoming the “efforts made” by banks, payment players and merchants, the minister emphasizes that “these efforts will be in vain if each of us does not increase our vigilance”.
Scammers often use the “spoofing” technique: they spoof the bank’s customer service number, pretend to be an advisor and extort key personal data from the customer such as an identifier or a secret code, or even the leads them to carry out banking operations for their own benefit.
Reimbursement of victims better managed
Technological innovation in terms of deepfakes and scenarios linked to current events – false online ticketing, false rental advertisements, false competitions in the run-up to the Olympic Games – are used by fraudsters. These scenarios have generated several disputes between bankers and consumers, with the former sometimes refusing to compensate the latter by calling into question their vigilance.
A clearer framework was adopted in spring 2023 thanks to the work of the Payment Means Security Observatory which brings together, under the aegis of the Banque de France, public authorities, banks and consumers.
Reimbursement of victims has since been better regulated. It is now up to the banking establishment to process the file in less than 24 hours. If he is unable to conclude that the fraud comes from the customer himself or that the latter has committed serious negligence, he must reimburse immediately. The awareness campaign begins on Saturday in the written press and radio.
