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8.4.2020 09:44

Fraud related to the coronavirus pandemic

Fraudsters are changing their way they act and quickly find new ways to try to scam in the exceptional situation too. We all are affected by the coronavirus pandemic and fraudsters aim to take advantage of the situation by appealing to people’s emotions, such as their anxiety, willingness to help, empathy and compassion.

Never give your user identifiers or passwords to anyone

Please note that the bank, police or any other authority will never ask customers to give their online bank user identifiers, password or payment card details – not even in an exceptional situation. If you are uncertain about something, always contact our customer service.

Please be especially careful in the following circumstances, for example:

  • Persons introducing themselves as an official or expert ask you to enter into your home to perform an inspection or protection measures related to the coronavirus pandemic. 
  • Persons on social media ask you to lend or give money so that they could buy medicine and equipment for the coronavirus or travel to a safer area. Those persons are not necessarily the ones who they say they are. 
  • The person may call you and offer the opportunity to take out a loan or invest assets. Loans and investments advertised on the web or presented by acquaintances on social media should be approached with caution. If the offer sounds too good to be true, that is not usually true.
  • An email message has a link or an attachment which states that it contains information on the coronavirus. Opening the link or the attachment may instal software on your device through which scammers gain access to your device and get hold of your online bank user identifiers or your payment card details.
  • You get a phone call in the name of technical support. If the caller asks you to instal some software on your device, check with your employer or service provider before installing the software whether the phone call is definitely justified. Otherwise, you may give fraudsters access to your device and make it possible for them to use it remotely and to get access to your online bank user identifiers or your payment card details. 

Please note that fraud is not always shown as described in the examples above. Please be careful whenever an unknown person contacts you and asks you to make a payment or lend money, you give your contact information or are about order products or services from an actor with which you have never had any transaction. 

What to do, if you suspect that you have been the victim of fraud

If you suspect that your user identifiers or your payment card details have fallen into unauthorised hands, please do the following:

  • Deactivate your online bank user identifiers and payment cards by calling OP Customer Service at 0100 0500.
  • Outside the OP Customer Service service hours, deactivate your user identifiers and payment cards by calling OP Deactivation Service at +358 100 0555 (24/7).
  • Be sure to also call OP Customer Service during service hours to report the incident.