One in eight Dutch people don’t know that a bank would never ask to send in their debit card

AMSTERDAM, 16 May 2024 - Almost one in eight Dutch people don’t know that a bank would never ask them to send in their debit card. These are the findings of a survey entitled “How dare you even ask?!” commissioned by ABN AMRO and carried out by Ipsos I&O. “In practice, we’re seeing a rise in the number of people being asked to send their debit cards. This is alarming – not only can the debit card itself be used to make fraudulent payments, it’s also the final step for scammers to gain access to the online banking environment,” explains Kathelijne Swaak, Fraud Chain expert lead. In order to tackle this type of fraud, ABN AMRO wants to raise awareness about the things that banks would never ask their clients to do.

The main findings from the survey:

• One in eight Dutch people (12%) can’t say with certainty that a bank wouldn’t ask them to send in their debit card, although banks would never ask their clients to do this.

• Over a quarter of Dutch people (27%) are not fully aware of the things that a bank would never ask them to do.

• Young Dutch adults (18-34 years of age) are most likely to respond to fake requests from banks.

Scammers take advantage of lack of knowledge ABN AMRO often hears about cases where scammers ask clients to send in their debit card. This forms a direct risk as the card, in combination with details that the scammers have already extracted, can be used to access the banking environment. Banks will never ask a client to post a debit card, as they already have access to their client’s personal details, and can block someone’s debit card remotely in an emergency. A debit card that is posted will probably fall into the wrong hands. It could easily get lost, stolen or intercepted by scammers. “Luckily, most people know that a bank would never ask them to send in a debit card. But I was shocked to discover that almost two million Dutch people would probably fall for a scam like this,” says Kathelijne Swaak. “This is why it’s important that financial institutions inform their clients about the things that they would never ask them to do, and explain why this is. Raising awareness will save people a lot of misery.”

Young people more gullible than older people

The stereotypical idea is that older people are particularly gullible when it comes to financial scams. However, research carried out by the University of Twente (2022) revealed that young adults are actually more likely to fall for scammers’ tricks. This is confirmed by the latest Ipsos I&O survey. Young Dutch adults (between 18 and 35 years old) are the most likely of all age groups to respond to fake requests from banks. Dutch people aged 50 years and above know better than anybody which requests a bank would never make. Rolf Wegberg, criminologist and cybercrime expert at Delft University of Technology: “There seems to be a lot of confusion about what banks might ask their clients to do. Scammers are able to exploit this vulnerability with their highly refined working methods. The more clearly we tell people what we would never ask them to do, the less chance these scammers have of exploiting them.”

Symbolic postage stamp: don’t post a debit card

Scamming can happen to anyone. Not only is it a horrible experience, it also costs Dutch people and banks tens of millions of euros a year. ABN AMRO wants to alert people to the ways that scammers operate, not only by telling them about the things that banks would never ask them to do, but also by explaining why this is. This will enable people to arm themselves better against the tactics deployed by these scammers. ABN AMRO has released a special postage stamp to remind people at the very last moment never to put their debit card in the post. It was developed in association with STRAAT, the museum for street art and graffiti, and designed by the street artist Astro.

About the survey

The survey was commissioned by ABN AMRO and carried out in April 2024 by Ipsos I&O. The random sample comprised 1,000 Dutch people and was representative in terms of age, gender and region.