Dutch banks urge Meta, TikTok and Google to fight online fraud surge

Dutch banks are calling on big tech and social media platforms to take stronger measures against online fraud, saying 70 percent of such scams now begin on those sites and that fighting it without their help amounts to “mopping with the tap open.”

The appeal, from the Dutch Banking Association, came with the release of 2025 fraud figures showing bank helpdesk fraud losses rose more than 3 million euros to 25.8 million euros. Phishing losses climbed 1.8 million euros to nearly 2.6 million euros. The number of bank helpdesk fraud victims fell 14 percent to just under 5,900 people.

In bank helpdesk fraud cases, scammers call victims pretending to be bank employees. They urge people to transfer money to a “safe” account because of an alleged threat or say someone will come to collect the bank card to keep it secure.

Banks credited greater customer awareness from media coverage and the campaign “Herken fraude. Voorkom fraude!” for the drop in victims. They said they have already introduced their own safeguards in recent years, including lower daily transfer limits on payment accounts, a four-hour delay before those limits can be raised, and a call-check function that lets customers verify whether they are really speaking with their bank.

The Dutch Banking Association noted that 2025 losses are still far below the more than 50 million euros recorded in 2022. Banks are also working with telecom companies on a system called “Line Busy.” This tool would let banks check in real time whether a customer is already on the phone with someone else while attempting to make a large money transfer — a common situation during bank helpdesk fraud calls.

Medy van der Laan, chairwoman of the Dutch Banking Association, said social media companies must act. “A recent study by the British regulator FCA showed that more than 1,000 illegal advertisements circulated on the platforms of Meta in a week’s time,” she said. “Online fraud is a major societal problem. I really hope therefore that social media companies want to help to further reduce the damage resulting from online fraud. Think, for example, of removing fake advertisements and false websites.”

Gijs van der Linden, team leader of the police’s National Internet Fraud Reporting Center (LMIO), said police investigations back the banks’ concerns. “Half of the reports investigated by the police, in which web shop fraud is involved, originate from META's platforms such as Instagram and Facebook,” he said.

Since 2020, banks have reimbursed some bank helpdesk fraud losses to individuals as a gesture when the bank’s name and number were misused. In 2025, just over 45 percent of such damage was reimbursed.

To qualify for reimbursement, customers must cooperate with the bank’s investigation, file a police report, prove they were called by their own bank, and not have received compensation for a similar scam before. Banks may deny reimbursement if the customer ignored specific, direct warnings from the bank while making the transfer.