How this scam works
The scammer calls you on the phone and instructs you to transfer or deposit an amount into a third-party’s account through an ATM. To convince you, they tell you that you are entitled to:
- Some sort of benefit (e.g. Market Pass).
- A refund from the government (e.g. EFKA).
They instruct you to choose “Transfer to account” or “Deposit in account” on the ATM. Then they give you an account number to type into the ATM and a code number to type into the “Amount” field. This code is actually the amount the scammer wants you to transfer.
How to protect yourself
It is important to remember you cannot receive money from the government through money transfer or deposit services. Through these services you can only transfer or deposit money into accounts belonging to other bank customers.
You must be on alert and hang up the phone immediately if someone tells you, for example, that they are your accountant and ask you to:
- Go to an ATM to collect some sort of benefit.
- Type a code they give you into the amount field to collect the money.
If you suspect you have fallen victim to fraud, cancel the transactions immediately and call on +302103260000.
How we protect you
To further protect you, we have reduced the daily ATM transfer limit per card to €2,500 from €5,000.
In addition, a pop-up appears on the ATM screen urging you to be cautious before going ahead with a money transfer, as fraud attempts have been reported for this type of transaction.
