Swiss Banking Ombudsman: Watch out for fraud!

Zurich, 13 May 2025: The Ombudsman’s office continues to be confronted with a large number of cases in which clients have fallen victim to fraudsters. As a rule, the bank is not liable in such cases. The Ombudsman therefore advises clients to exercise the necessary caution:

Be careful and vigilant, both when entering your passwords in public and on your computer. Do not communicate passwords or personal data by telephone or e-mail. Financial businesses do not require such information by these channels.
Beware of unsolicited calls and e-mails and promises of high returns without collateral. Never allow yourself to be pressurised by alleged urgency.
Check who your contacts are and their e-mail addresses; are they really who they say they are or who they claim to represent? If in doubt, contact the person or company via proven communication channels, for example by calling them back.
Be wary of requests for foreign bank transfers or advance payments of so-called fees.
Monitor your accounts, read the notifications relating to individual transactions carefully and report errors and suspicious transactions to your bank immediately.

Andreas Barfuss
Swiss Banking Ombudsman

Media contributions of the Swiss Banking Ombudsman on fraud (in German only):

General contributions on fraud (in English):

See also the sections entitled ‘Year in brief’ in the annual reports for 2020 to 2024 Annual reports – Banking Ombudsman.