Beware of suspicious messages that appear to be from the National Bank!
What is phishing?
Phishing is a form of Internet fraud in which scammers send emails or other messages in order to induce you to reveal personal information, such as bank account numbers, passwords and credit card details.
To make the messages appear more credible, they often appear to be from a reputable institution, such as your bank or the National Bank. We regularly receive reports of fraud involving the use of our name or logo or the impersonation of NBB employees.
If you receive an email or text or app message from the NBB that looks suspicious, never click on a link or open an attachment. Similarly, ignore any promotional offers or invitations. The NBB will never contact you by email, text message or phone and ask you to provide personal information.
Examples of phishing scams include:
- Being told the NBB charges a fee for cross-border transfers;
- Being informed the NBB is a commercial bank that provides online banking services;
- Being asked to make a payment through an alleged NBB website or customer service department;
- Being requested to make a payment because the NBB is blocking money transfers;
- Being asked to make a payment because the NBB is collecting deposits or payments to purchase or convert bitcoin or other crypto currencies into cash or because the NBB is recovering funds for victims of fraud;
- Being encouraged to take out a loan from the NBB at very attractive terms.
If you find yourself in any of these situations, you are being targeted by fraudsters.
The NBB will never contact you by email, text message or phone and ask you to provide personal information.
How can you recognise a phishing email?
While phishing emails may look like official emails, they often contain errors and other clues to their fraudulent nature. How can you recognise a phishing email?
- Check the sender. Official NBB email addresses end in @nbb.be.
- Check the way you are addressed. If the email is not sent to you personally, it is probably a scam.
- Check the text for language and spelling mistakes; these are common in phishing emails.
- Check any links in the email. Hover your mouse over the link without clicking on it to make the full address appear on your screen. Some programs display links at the bottom of the screen. If the link does not point to nbb.be or your bank's website, for example, it is probably a scam.
To learn more about phishing, please visit www.safeonweb.be.
How should you respond to a phishing attempt?
Do not reply and delete the email.
Please report phishing scams involving the NBB to [email protected].
- For phishing emails, please forward the email to us, preferably as an attachment to a new message in order to preserve important technical information about the sender’s operating methods.
- For phishing text or app messages, please include a screenshot of the message in your email.
Such reports allow us to form an idea of the severity and extent of phishing scams and to react quickly and appropriately.
The NBB cannot be held liable for the use of its name, logo and/or address for fraudulent purposes.
What should you do if you get scammed?
- Contact the police station nearest you and report the incident. Send the reference of the police report to your bank and, where appropriate, your insurance company.
- Forward the phishing message or email to [email protected].