Piggybacking on Romania's anti-corruption fight, new scam targets bank card holders

A new scam method in Romania targets bank card holders, taking takes advantage of the increasing wave of anti-corruption cases and the popularity enjoyed by the fight against crime. People pretending to be representatives of the National Anti-corruption Department DNA and the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism DIICOT call bank card holders and inform them that financial transactions were carried out with their cards in various criminal cases still under investigation. Then, they request card data for verification, and use it to wipe out the accounts, or to shop online. “There are hundreds of cases in the entire banking system. Some five large banks were involved, as far as we were informed. We ask customers to never provide personal information over the phone, or other information about their means of payment,” sources close to the matter told local Hotnews.ro. In some cases, the data provided by bank customers were used for online shopping. This comes after another scam method in Romania called “The Accident”. In this case, the thieves were calling people to announce them that a close relative has suffered an accident and needs money. xxx Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com