To better protect people from scammers, who pretend to be bank employees over the phone, the Dutch Banking Association and NLconnect (the trade association for the telecom industry) are calling on the government and the House of Representatives to amend the Telecommunications Act.
The change in the law should make it possible to check whether someone is talking on the phone while making a transfer. The NVB and NLconnect argue that a so-called 'in conversation' check can prevent much damage by bank helpdesk fraud. However, current legislation does not allow for such a check, hence this call now.
In bank helpdesk fraud, a scammer often pretends to be a bank employee over the phone. During the phone call, the scammer tries to persuade the victim in a very convincing way and under great psychological pressure to transfer money, for example to a so-called safe deposit account.
Although this type of scam dropped by some 45% in 2023, it remains - with €28 million in damages - a persistent social problem.
Research by banks shows that in more than 75% of cases, victims are talking to the scammer over the phone during the fraudulent transfer. Therefore, if the bank can check during the transfer if the customer is in conversation and has more evidence of fraud then the bank can block the payment until the customer has been contacted, thus preventing the fraud.
This joint project between banks and telecom companies under the name "Line Busy" is based on a similar service already successfully used in the United Kingdom under the name "Scam Signal.
The NVB and NLconnect point out that initial results there show that the number of successful fraud attempts decreased by about 40%. An initial analysis by the industry association would indicate that a similar approach could also work in the Netherlands. But that would require a change in the Telecommunications Act.
