ABN AMRO urges: “Don’t focus on the methods of fraud, focus on the red flags”
- Detecting Financial Crime
Hans Sjouke Koopal
Sr Press Officer Private Banking, Personal & BB
Due to a combination of techniques, it is almost impossible to tell scams apart from the real thing, but the signs remain the same.
Fraud is becoming increasingly difficult to recognise as scammers combine multiple advanced techniques, including AI. Victims often say there was a moment when they sensed something was off, but they still did not end the contact due to politeness, fear or time pressure. Fraud experts at ABN AMRO see this time and again: the longer someone stays in conversation with a scammer, the harder it becomes to end it. The combination of new techniques and this behaviour is risky. That is why the experts have identified five universal ‘red flags’ that help stop fraud faster and more effectively. Anyone who recognises one of these red flags will know that this is the moment to break off the interaction at once and check that everything is legitimate.
Methods change, patterns do not
Although the methods behind scams are becoming harder to recognise, the underlying psychology of fraud remains the same. That means spotting a scam is not just about knowing every form of fraud. What matters most is being able to identify the most common ways in which scammers try to mislead you – the red flags. This is what the ‘Red Flags for Scams’ guide focuses on.
The five universal red flags:
You are suddenly required to do something right now.
You are asked almost immediately to move the conversation outside the website or app you are using.
It sounds too good to be true.
You are asked to read out a script.
After you have been scammed, a stranger offers to help you get your money back.
Each red flag in the guide follows the same structure: the signal, the feeling the scammer wants to trigger, the real facts and the right action to take.
Fraud is becoming smarter and better organised
Fraud has changed significantly over time. In 2019, scammers only had access to telephones. Today, a single attack can involve five to eleven digital tools used simultaneously. Examples include AI voice cloning and phishing panels. Digital fraud has also become much cheaper. Ready-made phishing kits and spoofing software are widely available at low cost, and some AI tools are even available free of charge.
In parallel, stolen datasets containing personal and login details are sold illegally online. “By linking information from different data leaks, criminals often know exactly who someone is, where they bank and which services they have used recently,” says Marco Hendriks, fraud expert at ABN AMRO. “That’s why recognising the signs – the red flags for scams – is so important in protecting yourself against most forms of fraud.”