Beginning in January 2014, Dutch consumers who fall victim to phishing frauds on their accounts will need to prove that they followed five key security guidelines in order to have stolen funds reimbursed.
The new rules have been agreed by the Dutch Bankers Association (NVB) in tandem with the national consumers union. The code of conduct is designed to provide a policy framework for banks to follow when investigating cases of Internet fraud on consumer accounts.
The NVB says better education of consumers has reduced the value of losses to customers from phishing attacks and malware from EUR24.8 million in the first six months of 2012 to EUR4.2 million in the first half of this year.
Previously, banks have been free to adopt their own rules when deciding whether to reimburse customer losses from cyberfraud. Under the uniform code, consumers will be guaranteed a refund so long as they can demonstrate that they kept their PINs secure and did not loan out their card to third parties. Anti-virus software on consumer PCs is also a prerequisite, as is evidence that the customer maintained regular checks on their account balance and reported incidents immediately.