Saxony-Anhalt: Police warn users of online banking against fraudsters

Halle (dpa/sa) - The Halle Police Inspectorate warns of fraudsters who call users of online banking, request data and then steal large sums of money.

Saxony-Anhalt: Police warn users of online banking against fraudsters

Halle (dpa/sa) - The Halle Police Inspectorate warns of fraudsters who call users of online banking, request data and then steal large sums of money. This scam is currently very common, said a police spokesman on Sunday. Most recently, a woman in Halle was faked with an update to her online banking access on Saturday evening. The woman received two calls from different people who pretended to be bank employees and asked for several TANs from her. After that, more than 45,000 euros were debited from the woman's account.

On Friday evening, a woman from Kabelsketal (Saalekreis) went unnoticed to a fake site. She, too, received a call from an alleged bank employee who knew the woman's personal data. Subsequently, more than 50,000 euros were debited. According to the police spokesman, victims of fraud had also reported in the days before, and the damage was sometimes in six figures.

The spokesman said the money was transferred within minutes and could not be retrieved. He pointed out that bank employees never ask customers for TAN numbers. The computers of the fraud victims are likely to be infected with malware. It is important to use anti-virus software and to ensure that websites are spelled correctly.