There is currently a surge in phone scam cases across various cantons of Switzerland, with offenders pretending to be regional bank employees. The Appenzeller Kantonalbank has recently been warning of a series of frauds being committed. A similar incident had already been reported in the canton of Uri at the end of September.
According to the Appenzeller Kantonalbank, there are currently fraudulent calls being made every single day. Offenders pretend they are bank employees and try to obtain personal customer data or credentials for their e-banking that way. They sometimes also ask their victims to install remote maintenance software on their computer or smartphone – aiming to directly access their accounts and steal their money.
At the end of September, there were several reports of such calls received in the canton of Uri. The approach was identical: The purported bank employees claimed there was an unauthorised transaction or hacker attack and used targeted questions to try and obtain sensitive data.
All banks affected are stressing that real employees would never ask anyone for their passwords, PIN or complete set of credit card details over the phone. In addition, they would never ask customers to install any software or pass on security codes to them.
They are calling upon the population to remain suspicious, end suspect calls immediately and to contact their bank using their official telephone numbers in case of any uncertainties straight away.
