Financial Ombudsman warns of new bank card fraud tactic

The Financial Ombudsman in Poland has issued a warning regarding a sophisticated new fraud tactic involving the manipulation of bank card security. In one reported case, a victim lost 200,000 PLN after being misled into believing she was handing over a deactivated or blocked payment card to a courier.

According to the Ombudsman, criminals use multi-layered social engineering to bypass the caution of even aware individuals. The scam often begins with a phone call claiming personal data has been leaked. To gain credibility, fraudsters may send SMS messages appearing to be from the National Bank of Poland or provide falsified PDF documents via WhatsApp, such as fake police reports from the Warsaw Metropolitan Police, to convince the victim that legal proceedings are underway.