When you sell something on an online sales site, you can be contacted by an 'interested buyer' via WhatsApp, Messenger or the chat feature of the website. Before they transfer the agreed amount to your account, the buyer asks for a bank verification. The buyer claims to have been swindled in the past, and wants to make sure you can be trusted. They suggest that you transfer € 0.01, so that they see that the account number you gave for the sale is really yours.
What do you do? A transfer of just one cent, that can't hurt, can it?
Always be careful when buying or selling on online sales sites. Scammers try to steal your personal data and your bank details using various methods.
The purpose of the scammer always remains the same: to steal your personal data and your bank details. When scammers get your bank card number and your response codes, they can use these details to log in on your behalf and steal your money.
Before the 'interested buyer', who is in reality a fraudster, transfers the amount to your account, they ask to verify your identity. The scammer will ask to transfer a small amount (often 0.01 EUR) to their account 'for verification' or to use 'IBAN verification'.
You can do this via the link the scammer sends you. You actually end up on a fake website, which is run by the scammer. And that's the risk. Learn to identify fake websites
The fake website will ask you:
- to enter your card number
- to insert your card into your card reader and go through the steps
- to enter your response codes (= the codes generated with your card reader)
Once the cybercriminals have your card number and response codes, they can log into your banking app and make fraudulent transfers.
You take the risk of your bank account being plundered by making the payment via a phishing website.
Protect yourself against phishing!
