Recover your money as a victim of phishing

Recover your money as a victim of phishing

We provide you the keys to recover your money as a phishing victim, a form of cybercrime that has been on the rise in recent years. In 2022, more than 2.5 million phishing attacks were recorded in Spain, an increase of 25% over the previous year.

Phishing is a growing form of cybercrime in which attackers send fraudulent messages posing as legitimate entities, such as banks, businesses or government institutions.

These messages often contain malicious links or attachments that, once downloaded, infect users’ devices and allow attackers to steal their personal data, such as passwords, credit card numbers or bank accounts.

If you have been a victim of phishing, it is important to act quickly to try to get your money back. The following steps will help increase your chances of success:

• Block your credit or debit card. This will prevent attackers from being able to continue charging your account.
• Change your passwords. Be sure to change the passwords on all accounts that you have accessed with the information requested in the phishing message.
• File a report with the police. This will help the authorities investigate the case and apprehend the perpetrators.
• Contact your bank. The bank can help you get your money back, but it is important that you act quickly.

How to claim your money back from the bank

If you wonder when and how can phishing money be claimed from a bank, do not worry. To claim your money back from the bank , you will need to submit a claim form. This request must include the following information:

1. A detailed description of what happened.
2. Copies of the phishing messages you received.
3. Copies of the fraudulent charges made on your account.
4. Any other relevant information you can provide.

The bank will have 15 working days to respond to your request. If the response is negative, you will be able to go to court. Although at first, the banks understand that it is the customer who has voluntarily provided this information, there are already several judgements that have condemned banks to return the money to the victims.

In both Pontevedra and Santander, both courts have ordered the banks to repay the amounts stolen on the grounds that the victims had not been grossly negligent in protecting their security credentials, highlighting the difficulty for a non-expert to detect fraud in a message.

Tips to avoid becoming a victim of phishing

To avoid becoming a victim of phishing, follow these tips:

• Do not click on links or download attachments from messages from unknown senders.
• If you have doubts about the authenticity of a message, contact the entity the sender is impersonating directly.
• Regularly update the security software on your devices.
• Use strong and different passwords for each account.

By following these tips, you can reduce the risk of becoming a victim of phishing and, if you do, increase your chances of getting your money back.

For this, we recommend the advice of specialised data protection lawyers, such as Letslaw, who will resolve your doubts and accompany you on the road to recovering the money you have lost.