France is worst country in Europe for bank card fraud: how to protect yourself

France accounts for nearly half of all bank card fraud in the EU, a new report from the European Central Bank claims. 

More than seven million fraudulent bankcard transactions were made in the first half of 2024 in the bloc – 0.015% of all bank card uses – equating to €633 million of cash spent. 

Out of these, 42% were carried out in France, where fraudsters swindled users out of €211 million.

Bank cards are one of the most common ways used to pay in France, with more than 40% of all monetary interactions being made by card in 2022 (the latest figures available), and have likely risen since then.

How is fraud carried out?

The majority of cases (82%) come from remote attacks, usually phishing, where scammers ask for your bank details under the disguise of an official site or company.

Other remote fraudulent activities include ‘spoofing’, where someone calls you pretending to have a different identity, usually claiming to be an advisor from your bank. 

They will ask for you to hand over your details, to prevent a fraud attempt currently being tried against you, but of course scamming you themselves.

These are often deployed together in a double whammy, sometimes weeks apart, with the bank information taken in the first instance used to gain the trust of the victim for the ‘spoofing’, after which their accounts are quickly cleared. 

These are becoming increasingly popular amongst fraudsters, and there “has been a surge in such manipulative techniques,” said François Villeroy De Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France last year.

The remaining fraud was conducted in person, usually via the direct theft of a person’s card, which is then used to make contactless payments. 

Other scams see fraudsters walking past people with card readers and taking contactless payments off them, without the bank card owner knowing.

Read more: Contactless Fraudsters target bank cards in your pocket in new scam in France

What can you do to stop bank fraud? 

The most important thing to remember is to never hand out your full banking details, either on the phone or internet. 

Advisors will never call you asking you to confirm your details – they already know them. 

Scammers use urgency to unsettle victims, claiming someone is trying to make a fraudulent payment on a card and they must urgently hand over their details.

If you are worried, hang up, call your bank’s customer support line directly and ask if there are any issues. 

Check websites and emails linking to a company or service are legitimate. Websites may look real, but will contain errors (such as spelling or the use of wrong photos), and the website name will not be the same. 

You can also check if a website has the URL code ‘https’, and not ‘http’ – the latter is a telltale sign it is not necessarily legitimate. 

Read more: How to avoid falling victim to ‘false bank advisor’ scams in France

Read more: Bank call scams: why more people are being caught out in France

What should I do if I am impacted?

If you are a victim of fraud, you can call your bank, which will be able to cancel your card. 

If caught quickly enough, they may also be able to block any recent payments that went out from being honoured and stop money being deducted from your account. 

Otherwise, you can claim the money back, as your card was used without your knowledge, meaning you cannot be held liable. You must write to your bank making your claim within 13 months of the fraud being committed. 

Banks may counter the claims, saying you willingly gave your card details over (sometimes by not being vigilant enough against fraudsters), but it depends on the individual circumstances.