• UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny has launched investigation to verify how banks handle consumer complaints related to the funds being stolen from accounts and what mechanisms they use to authenticate transactions.
• Requests for providing clarification and documents in these cases were sent to 18 banks.

Recently, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has received an increasing number of  complaints from consumers regarding the theft of money from their accounts or incurring a liability using their personal data. The issue here is the loss of savings and banks rejecting such complaints. Reports include, e.g. scammers impersonating a bank call centre employee or using a fake bank website or spyware to phish for consumer data.

-I found it necessary to verify how banks protect their customers' money in such situations and whether they handle such complaints reliably. That is precisely why I have initiated explanatory proceedings towards 18 banks, during which we will verify the scale of the problem, the structure of internal procedures in particular banks, the percentage of complaints resolved positively, and whether the banks notify law enforcement agencies," says – Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The proceedings concern the following banks: Alior Bank, Bank Handlowy in Warsaw, Bank Millennium, Bank Ochrony Środowiska, Bank Pocztowy, Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, BNP Paribas Bank Polska, Credit Agricole Bank Polska, DnB Bank Polska, Getin Noble Bank, ING Bank Śląski, mBank, Nest Bank, Plus Bank, Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski, Santander Bank Polska, Santander Consumer Bank, Toyota Bank Polska.

Consumer advice

Consumer, if fraudsters have made unauthorised transactions on your account, contact your bank through the official helpline as soon as possible. Report such a transaction, change your login credentials for the banking application and e-banking, and block the card. You have 13 months to notify your financial institution, but the sooner you do so, the better. Then, notify the police.

konsument.edu.pl portal

Are you curious how easy it is to fall victim to online financial fraud? The Office, in cooperation with the ProPublika Foundation, has created a free, state-of-the-art educational tool for consumers – a social networking simulator where users can experience 10 threats, including account or identity theft.

The appearance of the site, its content, mechanisms and interactions used, are identical to those found online. The user behaves naturally - e.g. watches a commercial, reads posts on the wall, chooses the goods he wants to buy and the payment method. This provides a realistic, yet safe, demonstration of how cyber frauds operate. Each "trap" is also followed by a short video explaining the fraud's mechanism, a summary of the topic, and a knowledge test.

Go to konsument.edu.pl and see how to avoid traps set by cyber frauds in a safe environment.

Consumer assistance:

Tel. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer helpline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer right advisers – in your town or district

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL