A Luxembourg-based physiotherapist fell victim to an elaborate fraud scheme, losing nearly €30,000 to scammers posing as bank advisors. “It was so well done that I had no choice but to trust them”, said the victim, identified as Jérôme (name changed for privacy).
The scam began in early March when Jérôme received a call from someone claiming to represent his bank’s fraud department. The caller, a French-speaking man aged 30-40 without noticeable accent, alerted him to suspicious transfers of €4,000–€5,000 from his accounts.
“I logged into my banking app on my phone to make sure it wasn’t a scam, and I saw that my accounts were empty”, Jérôme recalled. The scammer provided convincing details – including the full name of an alleged fraudster, their phone model, and a location in Spain – to bolster credibility.
After Jérôme denied making the transactions, the imposter promised to recover the funds: “I told the man on the phone that I hadn’t made these transactions. He replied that he would try to get the money back, before asking me if I had given my login details to anyone. I said no. The advisor then explained that the scammers had used my business bank card and that he was going to block it.”
The money then temporarily reappeared in one of Jérôme’s business accounts. The fake advisor then instructed him to create a new account for “security”, requesting his current login credentials via text message: “He explained that I would receive a new temporary password, but that I would need to send my current login details and password by text message. I didn’t understand why, but I did as I was told”, Jérôme admitted. The scam culminated with the fraudster demanding Secur’Pass – the French equivalent to LuxTrust – validation to “confirm the transaction”.
Jérôme believed he was out of the woods. However, in reality, the fake bank advisor had been draining his accounts while buying time to prevent intervention from his actual bank. The scammer had assured him the funds would be returned within three days.
“When the three days had passed, I called my bank to find out what was going on, but they had no idea what I was talking about. They then explained that it wasn’t my bank’s fraud department that had called me, but scammers”, Jérôme recounted.
Only later did he understand the mechanics of the fraud. Initially, the hackers had limited access – able to move money between his accounts but not transfer funds externally. By following the imposter’s instructions, Jérôme unknowingly removed this final safeguard. “The police told me this exploits a well-known banking vulnerability”, he said.
Though shaken, Jérôme fought to recover the stolen money. After lengthy negotiations, his bank reimbursed €17,000 but refused the remaining €10,000, arguing he had “facilitated” the fraud by consenting to create the fraudulent account.
“I filed a complaint at the beginning of March, but I still haven’t heard back from the police. There is very little chance that the ‘alloteur’ will be prosecuted”, Jérôme lamented. Our colleagues from RTL Infos reviewed the minutes of Jérôme’s interview with the police, which corroborates his account detailed above.
The term “alloteur” – derived from the French phone greeting “allô” – describes fraudsters who pose as bank advisors in phone scams. These criminals operate in organised networks, partnering with hackers to harvest victims’ financial data before psychologically manipulating them into authorising transfers.
“It seemed like a real service. It was so well done that I had to trust them”, Jérôme admitted. He now advocates for bank-sponsored training to help customers identify such schemes.
France’s Payment Security Observatory recorded €1.3 billion stolen through phone scams in 2023 alone. Under French law, such fraud carries penalties of five years’ imprisonment plus €375,000 fines, while illicit data collection can result in five-year sentences and €300,000 penalties.
Luxembourg police maintain active advisories about prevalent scams.
New, stricter transfer safeguards coming to Luxembourg banks
