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against credit card fraud

As a victim of credit card fraud, one key question arises: How do I get my money back? As the victim, you can reclaim the money from your bank. The bank is liable for payment transactions that were made without the account holder's authorization. Specifically, this civil law claim arises from Section 675u sentence 2 BGB (German Civil Code).

However, banks often refuse to make payments. In the event that you have already reversed the amount yourself, the banks regularly demand that you refund the amount. However, experience shows that the banks are liable in most cases and must take responsibility for the loss.

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Yes, it is possible to reverse a charge on a credit card. This process, also known as a chargeback, can be used in situations such as unauthorized transactions, fraud or non-receipt of goods and services.

1. Proof of a transfer without authorization

You must be able to prove that the transfer was made without being authorized by you. This is because if the bank can provide a suitable security system, it is generally assumed that the transfer was made with the account holder's authorization. However, the requirements for proving an unauthorized payment order are not excessively high. For example, you do not necessarily have to prove how the authentication procedure was actually overcome. It is sufficient if you can demonstrate through circumstances outside the actual security system that you never approved the transfer. This includes screenshots of the phishing email, chat histories and the like.

2.comply with the statutory time limit

You can only reclaim your money from your bank if you notify it within a statutory period that a transfer has been made to your account without your authorization. The law stipulates that you must inform the bank within 13 months of becoming aware of the unauthorized payment.

3. no grossly negligent behavior

You cannot automatically demand a refund from your bank in every case in which an unauthorized transfer is made from your account. If the loss was caused by the injured party's grossly negligent breach of their duty of care towards the bank, they are liable to the bank and must reimburse the amount debited. The holder of an EC or credit card is obliged to protect the use of their means of payment against misuse. In such cases, the injured party's claim for reimbursement against the bank and the bank's claim for repayment of the sum are then offset against each other. These claims are then offset against each other so that they ultimately cancel each other out and you cannot demand repayment. The injured party acts with gross negligence, for example, if they

• passes on a TAN over the phone or
• enters several TANs in online banking, although only a single order is to be executed
.

First of all, cyber criminals try to gain access to your online banking and then overcome other security measures. Both technical and human weaknesses are exploited. Once the cybercriminals have gained access to your online banking, the account is emptied very quickly. As many real-time transfers as possible are then made and existing limits are increased. The money is usually quickly transferred to other accounts or converted into cryptocurrencies to make tracking more difficult. What is particularly problematic is that not only is the credit balance usually withdrawn, but existing credit lines are also exhausted. As a result, not only are the saved assets gone, but the injured parties also end up with large amounts of debt at their bank. Above all, raising the transfer limit results in particularly high losses.

Es  gibt verschiedene Methoden, mit denen Cyberkriminelle an die Zugangsdaten für das Onlinebanking herankommen. Hauptsächlich werden diese Methoden (auch gerne kombiniert) angewendet:

Phishing

This phishing method involves sending emails to bank customers that are intended to give the impression that they come from the bank. In these emails, you are then asked to click on the link in the email and enter your login details on a fake login page.

Formjacking

Malware is also often used to steal login details. The malware is placed on websites of online stores and the corresponding data is then intercepted when customers enter their data when placing an order. These are form fields that are manipulated by the cybercriminals.

Pharming

With this method, malware is used to create a fake page and display it to the user even though they have entered the correct address in their browser. As the fake page usually looks deceptively similar to the real page, those affected usually don't even realize that they are giving their access data into the hands of fraudsters. It is now not only computers that are affected as end devices, but also smartphones and tablets.

Social engineering

In these cases, the fraudsters pretend to be employees of your bank on the phone. The fraudsters try to gain your trust in order to obtain your access data. The victims are often spied on for a while beforehand so that the fraudsters can also give details about your bank over the phone, such as the name of your account manager. It is not uncommon for your bank's telephone number to be shown on the display of your telephone through technical manipulation in order to create additional trust. During the phone call, the perpetrators often claim that your access data is needed to update the security procedure because there has been a security attack. The fraudsters often talk quickly and insistently to the victim in order to create a situation where they are taken by surprise, making it easier to obtain the required data.

Search engine scam

Users often search for their bank in a search engine such as Google when they want to log into their online banking account. The fraudsters know this too, so they create and place ads that supposedly come from the victim's bank. The user then clicks on the link to this ad, believing it to be an ad from their bank, and is then taken to a fake login page. If the users then enter their login details, these are intercepted by the fraudsters.

We are increasingly receiving inquiries from people who have fallen victim to credit card fraud via eBay classifieds. The fraudsters are very clever in these cases and mimic the eBay website and emails deceptively real.

The scam often follows the same pattern: After placing an ad on eBay classifieds, a prospective buyer contacts them at short notice. The alleged prospective buyer is usually willing to pay the advertised purchase price immediately and without negotiation. What's more, these prospective buyers regularly agree to pay the shipping costs. The seller is very pleased with the request because of the often laborious negotiations on eBay and is happy to accept it. In some cases, the prospective buyer will ask trivial questions about the item beforehand, such as whether the item looks as it does in the picture. Communication either takes place via eBay chat or is transferred directly to WhatsApp if, for example, the eBay seller has saved their mobile number in their account.

<p

When the conversation finally turns to the payment method, the interested party insists on payment via "eBay - secure payment". This payment method is actually part of the repertoire of payment options on eBay. The perfidious approach of the fraudsters is aimed at exploiting the good reputation of this payment method. Normally, the eBay payment system works in the following steps: First, the buyer pays the purchase price to an eBay payment service provider. The seller receives notification from the payment service provider that the money has been received and the goods can be shipped. As soon as the buyer informs the payment service provider that the amount has been received, the service provider transfers the amount to the seller.</p

Following the chat exchange, the seller receives an email purporting to be from eBay. In this email, the seller is asked to click on a link to process the payment. However, neither the email nor the website originate from eBay. The website then asks for the eBay user's data, which the fraudsters then use to debit a four-digit amount from the victim's account. In many cases, these websites also feature a live chat with an alleged employee who is supposed to lull the victim into a sense of security.