What is fraud?
Fraud is a deceitful activity that aims to obtain an illegal benefit or money. Examples of fraud include false financial schemes, person’s identity or payment card details theft, forged cheques or money transfers, and many other types of fraud.
What is a scam?
A scam is a fraudulent scheme or deceptive practice aimed to illegally enrichment by tricking others. Scams may include fake promotional offers, fraudulent lotteries, spam emails that scam people out of their personal information, and other types of deceptive practices.
How we’re protecting you
We use technological solutions and advanced systems to detect suspicious activity
Bilderlings team consists of highly skilled professionals
We use a special data transfer protocol and two-factor authentication (2FA)
For enhanced security, the users will be periodically prompted to change their password in their Personal Panel
How can I prevent fraud?
Verify the actual email address
Pay attention to the sender’s email address and the links to the website you are asked to visit. Fraudsters often use fake addresses with meaningless characters or unusual domains.
Do not click on links from emails or messages
Be cautious if you doubt the authenticity of a message. The link may have slight differences in spelling to imposter a genuine merchant/service provider and lead to a fake copy of the site.
Maintain contact with our support service
If you have any suspicions or encounter a situation that seems suspicious, do not hesitate to contact our support service at [email protected]. Our specialists will help verify the authenticity of messages, take necessary measures, and warn other users.
💳 Additional measures
Additional measures you can take to enhance unauthorised access protection of your account [link to FAQ]
🏦 2FA
Keep your second factor secret; do not share it with anyone else.
Questions & Answers
If you suspect that your account has been subject to fraudulent activity or you believe a transaction is fraudulent or the result of a scam, please do the following:
- Freeze your card, if the fraudulent activity concerns the card.
Please follow our instructions in Help section on how to freeze the card. - Notify Bilderlings and any other financial institution involved.
- Freeze the Account. You may request Bilderlings to freeze the account to prevent unauthorised transactions.
- Report the fraud to relevant authorities, e.g.:
– Police. Allegations of fraud and cybercrime should be reported to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre which can be contacted at www.actionfraud.police.uk.
– If the fraud involves identity theft, you may contact CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention service, to place a protective registration on your identity, at www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us
Social engineering
That is a method of manipulating people to obtain confidential information or perform malicious actions. Attackers use psychological techniques, such as deceptive emails and phone calls, to impersonate other individuals or representatives of organizations and gain access to personal data or resources.
APP fraud is where a person uses a fraudulent or dishonest act or course of conduct to manipulate, deceive or persuade a consumer into transferring funds from the consumer’s relevant account to a relevant account not controlled by the consumer, where:
• the recipient is not who the consumer intended to pay, or
• the payment is not for the purpose the consumer intended.
Card fraud
Card fraud includes skimming, counterfeit card production, internet and phone scams, as well as physical card theft. Fraudsters deceive cardholders to obtain their data and perform unauthorized transactions, such as making purchases or withdrawing money.
Identity theft
This is a crime where a perpetrator gains access to a victim’s (such as passport details or credit card details) to commit financial fraud, which can lead to serious financial losses and reputational damage.
Account takeover (ATO)
Unauthorized access to a user’s account is the process of gaining entry without permission. This typically occurs by using stolen credentials such as passwords or usernames. Hackers may compromise an account to obtain personal information, financial resources, or to commit fraudulent activities on behalf of the account owner.
ATM & cash machine fraud
Fraud involving ATMs and cash often encompasses various deceitful methods to access clients’ money or the ATMs themselves. This may include installing skimmers to steal card data, using counterfeit devices to capture PINs, or deceiving clients to gain access to their accounts.
Please contact us on [email protected] and provide us as much information as you can.
Reimbursement for retail clients who fall victims of APP fraud, payments in GBP in UK. Retail clients who fall victims of authorized push payments fraud while sending the payments in Faster Payments and CHAPS system can be reimbursed by their Payment Service Provider (sending PSP).
Please note that reimbursement rules as described below may be applicable only if all criteria are met:
The eligibility criteria.
The rights to reimbursement are attributable to eligible customers:
individuals, micro enterprises and charities, where an APP fraud payment is sent to a relevant account in the UK – the payee’s account is located in UK, payment is sent in GBP and payment is conducted using the Faster Payments Scheme or CHAPS or it is Bilderlings internal payment.
Reimbursement rules does not apply to international payments, i.e., where the payer or the payee or both do not have the account in UK and/or payment is not in GBP and/or payment is not sent via Faster Payments System or CHAPS.
The time limits.
The requirement applies only to payments made on or after 7 October 2024.
You must have raised the claim within 13 months of the final payment made to a fraudster as part of the same scam.
Maximum claim limit:
the maximum claim limit applicable to an APP scam claim (£85,000), we will apply a 100 GBP excess per each reimbursement claim.
Additional exclusions: cases in which the reimbursement requirement does not apply.
First party fraud – if you are engaged in fraud.
Gross negligence – you have acted with gross negligence in not meeting the consumer standard of care.
Payments are made to an account you control.
Payments that are not authorised by you (‘unauthorised payments’). In case you believe you have not authorized the payment please let us know as soon as possible so we may conduct the investigation concerning the matter but we will not apply reimbursment rules as described herein.
Civil disputes – e.g., in case you are just dissatisfied about the goods purchased or service provided by the merchant, or you believe that merchant did not act in accordance with the arrangements (delivery not in time, refuse of delivery, other costs etc.).
Where payments are sent or received by credit unions, municipal banks and national savings banks.
Assesment
Every claim will be assessed on a case-by-case basis: considering the evidence presented by you and any information available from the receiving PSP, or where relevant a third party such as the police.
Therefore it is important that you inform us as soon as you can concerning the possible APP fraud and provide as much information you can.
We will consider the case in five business days since we have received the claim from you. However, if there will be necessary additional time to get more information from the parties involved we may extend the term but in any case no longer than 35 business days.
If you are dissatisfied with the decision we have taken concerning your claim to reimburse the APP fraud, you may launch a complaint to [email protected]
The complaint will be reviewed in accordance with our Complaints Policy.
How to address reimbursment claims?
Please address your claims for reimbursement to [email protected]
Scam emails (phishing)
Phishing emails are fraudulent electronic messages that impersonate official correspondence from well-known companies or institutions. The goal of such emails is to deceive recipients into providing personal information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, or account login details. Phishing emails often contain links to fake websites where attackers can intercept the entered data.
Scam calls (vishing)
Scam calls, also known as vishing, involve fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information or money from individuals over the phone. Typically, scammers impersonate trusted entities like banks, government agencies, or tech support, using various tactics such as creating urgency or fear to manipulate victims. They may ask for personal details, passwords, or direct payments, often exploiting trust or lack of awareness.
Authorised push payment (APP) scams
These scams occur when criminals convince you to make a bank transfer. They usually pretend to represent a reputable business or organisation, or even pretend to be calling you as a family member or a friend of yours. They create a sense of urgency to make you act quickly and to conduct a bank transfer, preventing you from recognizing the scam in time.
Investment scam
This is a fraudulent scheme in which scammers convince people to invest money in fictitious or nonexistent projects or assets. Often, fraudsters promise high returns or minimal risk to attract victims. After receiving the money, they disappear or fail to fulfil their commitments, leaving investors with losses. Such schemes may use complex financial terminology and appear convincing, but they are based on deception and are illegal.
Safe use of a payment card requires following certain precautions:
- Never disclose your PIN, card number, or other confidential information over the phone, via email, or on untrustworthy websites.
- When shopping online, prefer verified and secure websites.
- Regularly check your transactions. If you notice any suspicious activity, contact us immediately by emailing us to [email protected].
- Never write your PIN on the plastic card or keep it together with the card.
- If your payment card is linked to a mobile app, ensure your phone is protected with a password or other locking method.
Following these precautions will help reduce the risk of fraud and ensure the security of using your payment card.
Do not share your passwords and codes with anyone, including Bilderlings representatives.
We will never ask you to provide them.