Today, both our personal safety and the security of our electronic transactions are of utmost importance.

This type of fraud occurs through phone calls where customers of banks or financial institutions receive calls that seem to originate from their bank. The caller ID displays the bank’s phone number, but the call is actually from malicious third parties. These fraudsters exploit technological tools (without breaching the bank’s systems) to impersonate bank representatives, attempting to steal sensitive banking information such as usernames, passwords, card numbers, PINs, or OTPs to access victims' accounts.

Often, to appear more convincing, the fraudsters make a second call immediately after a failed attempt to deceive. In this call, they claim to be calling from the bank to protect the customer from the previous fraud attempt.

Protection tips:

• Be cautious with sensitive data
  Never disclose sensitive banking information (such as usernames, passwords, PINs, card numbers, OTPs, etc.) even if the call appears to come from your bank.
• Genuine communication from the bank
  Remember that the bank will never ask for such information, even during transaction confirmations.
• Immediate call termination
  If you feel that someone is trying to deceive you, end the call and contact the bank yourself through the official customer service number.
• Do not follow instructions to enter codes
  Do not enter codes that are suggested to you during phone calls.
• Verify OTP messages
  Read the entire messages sent by the bank via SMS OTP or Viber OTP carefully instead of quickly entering the one-time code.

Points to watch out for:

• Time pressure
  If the caller does not give you time to think, ask for information or contact your bank.
• Requests for sensitive data
  They ask for PINs, e-banking login credentials (username & password), or card details.
• Fake SMS messages
  You receive SMS from the bank, and the caller claims that the code is required to cancel the fraudulent transaction. In reality, no one-time code is needed for the bank to cancel any fraudulent transaction against you.
• Money transfers
  They ask you to transfer money to a "safe" account or perform a "test" or "dummy" transaction.
• ATM withdrawal
  They guide you to withdraw or transfer money via ATM.
• Card or PIN collection
  They inform you that you are a fraud victim and will send a courier to your home to collect your card and PIN or money that they convinced you to withdraw from an ATM to protect it.
• Mobile device deactivation
  They ask for information about your mobile device or urge you to turn it off.

It concerns fraud via telephone call, aimed at deceiving and conducting transactions made by the “victim”. The fraudsters call unsuspecting customers on their phone, pretending to be their accountants, employees of Public Organizations, etc. They convince customers that they will receive, for example, financial aid, allowance, retroactive salaries or pensions, and guide them to proceed to an ATM in order to receive the amount or to use Piraeus e-banking in order to make money transfers to third parties or send a remittance.

How to protect ourselves:

• Do not disclose or reveal personal information (e-banking credentials, card details) by telephone to strangers, asking you to provide them with such information, supposedly to facilitate you to receive money.
• Be cautious not to give out personal information to strangers. Verify the authenticity of the caller by calling your associate at the contact numbers provided at the beginning of your collaboration.
• If anyone calls you assuming the identity of, for example, your accountant, asking you to go to an ATM in order to receive an allowance, hang up the phone immediately.
• If anyone calls you to tell you that, by going to the ATM and selecting the transactions "ONLINE DEPOSIT" or "TRANSFERS", you will receive money, you should terminate the communication. These services are deposit services and operate exclusively for transferring or depositing money to other Bank customers and not for receiving any amount from any customer or Organization!
• If, during the telephone conversation, it is mentioned that in order for you to receive money you must enter the code they are giving you during the ATM transaction in the "AMOUNT" field, terminate the call immediately. The code they are giving you is the amount that you will ultimately transfer to another customer within the Bank.
• Keep in mind that Piraeus e-banking orders for remittance or transfer to third parties are issued only to send money and NOT to receive. If you receive an e-mail, supposedly from the Bank, stating that "your e-banking is currently not functioning as a money transfer service but as a money acceptance service”, then this e-mail definitely leads to fraudulent activity. Instantly terminate communication with the fraudster and do not proceed with any action they have urged you to take.

In any case, do not rush into actions. Take your time, investigate, and consider whether an action could be harmful to you! If you realize that you have been deceived, call the Bank to report the incident and receive guidance for any further actions and instructions.

Phishing is the malicious attempt by would-be fraudsters to steal personal information, such as web banking passwords, credit/debit card numbers or PINs, passport numbers, ID card numbers, tax numbers, etc.

– Ways to approach a potential "victim"

• Phishing E-mail
  These are fraudulent e-mails sent to random accounts of unsuspecting recipients, either by enticing them or trying to convince them that it is necessary, asking them to click on a link within the e-mail. This link leads to websites created by fraudsters, which mimic the legitimate websites of banks. Their goal is to deceive users into entering their personal information, which the fraudsters will then use to access the electronic banking environment and act as genuine customers.
• Phishing sms (Smishing)
  These are fraudulent SMS messages that, through a link they contain, ask customers to log in to Piraeus e-banking by selecting this link. They try to lure the customer into clicking the link using language such as, call a number to cancel/verify a transaction, unlock/activate your account, update your information by clicking here, etc. If customers select the malicious link, they will be directed to an environment similar to that of the bank and will be asked to enter their e-banking credentials and then the one-time codes they receive.

CAUTION!
If you enter your details as mentioned above, the fraudsters will immediately gain access to the Piraeus e-banking service and will be able to manage your money.