Danske Bank’s demo application is spreading among fraudsters

Danske Bank has released an application for its customers to practice using online banking. The application has a nasty side: it enables property crimes to be committed by cheating.

The first scams came to the attention of the authorities already in 2020, and the scams have still not been brought under control.

– The purpose of the demonstration applications is to enable practice in using mobile banking in a safe trial environment. Some customers may feel insecure when introducing new technology and applications, and they want to practice using the applications before starting to use them “in real life”. The introduction application is also used to familiarize the customer, for example during a branch meeting, says Danske Bank’s communications manager Kaisa Beaver.

The application cannot be used to log into real banking services or make real payments.

The original demo version of the application was removed from the application stores after the first scams came to light. A forced update was added to the app, which updates it to the bank’s new demo app, which makes it clear that it’s a demo version.

– The demo version in question was removed from the app stores in 2020 right after we received information about scam companies. The demonstration application was renewed and its security was improved, e.g. by adding clearly distinguishable red text DEMO to each page, and removing the payment transaction acknowledgment page from the demo version. Unfortunately, some have kept this old version on their phone for the purpose of cheating, and unfortunately we cannot remove it from them, says Majava.

However, it is possible to use the old application if the phone is not online or in airplane mode.

Scams follow the same pattern

From Kuopio Alex is one of the victims of the scam. He announced online that he was selling an unused Samsung Galaxy s20 fe phone for 500 euros.

A buyer for the product was found, and the deal was arranged for the same evening in the parking lot of the nearby Ruokakaupa.

Aleksi said that the buyer had brought a friend with him and the situation initially seemed somehow strange. Before the face-to-face meeting, the method of payment had not been agreed upon, and Aleksi could not suspect anything yet at this stage.

After meeting the buyers, he thought for a long time if he wanted to do business with online payment. However, it was a large sum of money.

– The salesman was very persuasive and showed the Danske Bank application on his phone, which looked just like a regular and normal online banking application, Aleksi says.

You could fill in your own account information in the application yourself and it seemed like a normal online banking application. Somehow the whole situation and the assurance of the buyer that everything is fine made him doubt the situation.

– Yes, I suspected something, but I was lulled into the fact that the online banking application was genuine and seemed very reliable.

However, Aleksi never received any money from the sale.

Aleksi fell victim to Danske Bank’s application scam in early 2021.

Although the bank has tried to do everything to improve security, updates are not always enough.

Also Tapio Haaja has recently fallen victim to a scam. He works as a development director in the media industry. He shared of the case in the Linkedin application on his account and the publication has received more than 250,000 views in a few days.

Haaja says that due to his profession, he thought he knew about the different forms of scams and thought he had become aware of these matters.

– I’m quite wary of things myself, and email scams, fake sites and text scams are commonplace, but I couldn’t suspect the application in any way.

He says that he wanted to share what he experienced so that no one would have to experience the same thing again.

– For me, the most important point is to warn others that such applications also exist.

He was selling an old Macbook Pro computer for 1,150 euros.

You can’t pay such an amount with Mobilepay, so a bank transfer seemed like a good option.

The buyer came to pick up the machine and, under Haaja’s eyes, completed the account transfer from his own phone’s mobile application.

In that application, there was no DEMO text or any other indications that it was not a real application.

The payer’s account seemed to have money and the account transfer also seemed to be successful and the money moved forward.

The computer was taken and the money was never heard from. A criminal complaint has been filed and the insurance company has been informed about it. It is not yet known whether he will receive compensation from the insurance company.

Bank transfers take time

Account transfers between different banks are not transferred in real time from one bank to another. There are also small differences between banks.

The Payment Services Act was revised in 2010. The Act is based on the EU’s Payment Services Directive.

Previously, account transfers could take 2-3 banking days, but after the reform, the SEPA account transfer must arrive no later than the next business day.

Large Finnish banks are often able to operate even faster than this.

If the account transfer is made during the morning, it will be transferred to the recipient during the same day. Some banks have a time limit set for the afternoon, after which the account transfer takes place during the next day.

Säästöpankki says that they have that limit by 12:55 p.m., at Nordea the time limit is at 2 p.m., and at Danske Bank account transfers are transferred immediately until 3 p.m.

Osuuspankki says that it uses SEPA instant transfers whenever possible. At that time, money moves between banks in seconds. SEPA instant transfers are also made in other banks.

Guilt and shame

Victims of scams often feel ashamed and it is not easy to admit being scammed.

The update published by Haaja has also gathered numerous comments saying that being a victim was his own fault and at a time like this he should have known better or it was wrong to give the product to the buyer before the payment had appeared in his own account.

However, the authorities remind that the victim of a crime is never to blame. Anyone can become a victim of fraud or crime.

Kuluttajaliitto has published beware, ensure and warn campaign, the purpose of which is to share information about online scams and crimes.