A call from “Card Stop”? Beware of fraud!
23 May 2024 - 2 min Reading time
Recently, an increasing number of people have been receiving calls from Belgian phone numbers. The voice on the other end of the line claims to be an employee of Card Stop and informs that suspicious transactions have been detected on a bank account. In reality, this is a fraudulent call that does not come from Card Stop but from scammers.
The scammers use various techniques to fish for their victims' bank details: text messages, emails, social media and phone calls. In this case, they call consumers while pretending to be Card Stop employees (often an automated message is heard first) and inform them about fraudulent transactions on their bank accounts. Through some clever manipulation techniques, the fraudsters ask the victims to perform an uncommon action in order to gain access to their personal data. These practices often ultimately lead to a looted bank account.
Febelfin recalls some precautionary rules to avoid falling into the trap:
- Card Stop will never proactively call cardholders to inform them of fraudulent transactions. Therefore, do not accept calls requesting action on behalf of Card Stop. These are fraudulent calls designed to obtain personal information. Hang up immediately!
- Never give out your PIN or other bank codes by phone, or through a link sent by email, text or social media. Card Stop, or banks, will never ask for this kind of information.
- You will never be asked to use your bank card reader or any other online banking identifier (e.g. itsme) to confirm a payment or cancel fraudulent transactions either.
Those who did fall into the trap should follow the following steps as soon as possible:
- Contact your bank quickly. The banks provide fraud services that are available 24/7 for this purpose. The contact details can be found on the website of Card Stop (only in Dutch/French).
- Block your card immediately by calling Card Stop on 078 170 170.
- File a complaint with the police.
