Banks Report Explosion In New Scam Designed To Make Customers ‘Panic’ Before Draining Their Accounts

Some of the world’s top banks are reporting a sharp uptick in a new form of digital wallet scam that is engineered to push customers into a state of panic before siphoning off their funds via Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Financial institutions, including HSBC and Santander, have seen fraudsters adopt a high-pressure approach in which victims receive calls claiming their account is under attack or their money is at risk, prompting them to approve push notifications or alerts that end up granting scammers access to their digital wallets.

Danai Antoniou, chief scientist at AI-financial services Gradient Labs, told the Guardian that the approach is effective due to its appearance of being harmless, as the fraudsters are only asking fairly innocuous questions.

“This is why most people don’t question it. If the notification says ‘never share this with anyone’ (or similar), they will pre-emptively mention it to the customer that this is a routine comment that comes with every notification – which is true, customers do become immune to warnings if they get warnings frequently…

Victims often describe feeling panicked and pressured during the call, being told their account is under attack, or that their money is at risk. In that heightened emotional state, approving a notification feels like the responsible thing to do. The victim believes they’re protecting their account, when, in reality, they’re handing over the keys…”

Santander reported that digital wallet fraud was the second biggest reason for card scam losses in 2025, and HSBC reported an increase over the past 18 months.

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