How to spot a fake email
These tips will help you spot fake emails. The following features should make you wary of an email you receive:
- In the sender's address, the name after the @ sign is different from that of your bank.
- The email is not addressed to you personally.
- The sender asks you to do something quickly or things will go wrong or you might miss out on an opportunity.
- You are being asked to enter your login details.
- The email has a ZIP or RAR file attached.
- The email contains a link to a website that is not your bank’s. Therefore, check the web address. Hover over the link, but do not click on it. This will display the full web address, possibly at the bottom of your screen. Also check out the tips to spot fake websites, if you are unsure whether the address is real.
- Your bank's contact details are incorrect. You can check this on your bank's real website.
- The email has spelling errors.
How to spot fake phone calls, chat messages or texts
Someone will pretend to be a bank employee. You may even see the number or name of your bank on the screen. Here's how to recognise these fake calls. You are told to:
- quickly transfer money
- state your PIN or login details
Your bank will never ask you to do this. Delete the text or chat message. End the phone call and say that you will call back later on the bank's general number.
Never act on suspicious messages from your bank
If you are suspicious, simply do not respond. This means you should:
- not provide any personal information
- not transfer money to a “safe” or "escrow” account
- not open attachments or click on links
- report to your bank that you have received a suspicious message.
Check the website of the Dutch national anti-fraud hotline for warnings of phishing or spoofing scams.
What if you did respond to a phishing message?
Take immediate action: contact your bank immediately to have your debit or credit cards blocked. If you have lost any money, report it to the police. You can also contact the Dutch national anti-fraud hotline at https://www.fraudehelpdesk.nl/fraudhelpdesk-the-dutch-national-anti-fraud-hotline/
More information
For more information, go to www.veiligbankieren.nl. This is a Dutch-language website provided by the Dutch Banking Association. Or check out the website of the Dutch national anti-fraud hotline or the government’ s Dutch-language veiliginternetten.nl website.
De Nederlandsche Bank supervises banks in the Netherlands. For more information about our supervision, go to Supervision of financial institutions.