Police call for vigilance

Payment fraud in France is becoming more and more widespread, reaching an alarming amount of 628 million euros in the first half of 2023. The Banque de France is warning against a technical threat by warning about this phenomenon, called “wishing”.

What is wishing?

Also known as a fake bank advisor scam, vishing is a technique to extort money through telephone calls. At the other end of the phone, scammers posing as advisors to the anti-fraud department usually begin by reporting alleged suspicious transactions and claiming that they have been blocked from the bank account. the victim This is where it will request verification of various confidential information, such as identifiers, to rob its victims.

What you need to know is that there is no difficulty in convincing a false counselor, provided that he has in his possession all the necessary information about his potential victim. ” Information used by the scammer to target the victim and make his scam believable can be obtained through phishing, account hacking, password-stealing viruses, etc. on one of the victim’s devices (computer, telephone, etc.). »The site cyber-malveillance.gouv.fr explains.

The gendarmerie calls for vigilance

This increasingly common scam has already claimed several victims in the northern region of France. The tribes of Hélènes-les-Haubordin also warned citizens and asked them to be more vigilant. ” You should remember that under no circumstances should you provide your bank account number and less than your identifiers. », they insist. Note, moreover, that in addition to telephone calls, fake bank advisors may contact victims via e-mail or SMS.

If the authorities are so concerned about the scourge, it is because of the startling statistics. Indeed, the Banque de France recently released data on fraud linked to payment methods, particularly highlighting scams through manipulation. This type of fraud represents 16% of total annual fraud and contributed to 40% of the annual amount of payment fraud in France, or up to 204 million euros during the first six months of 2023.