Lightning bank fraud: 8 payments, €200 lost
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30 Jan 2026 •
Reading time: 3 minutes A local woman saw her bank account drained of several hundred euros in less than an hour, without ever losing her card. Her testimony sheds light on a discreet but highly effective form of fraud: copying bank details.
An ordinary day turned upside down without warning
On Saturday, France went to her bank to deposit some money. She then continued her day with a stop at a shop in Rue des Tongres, Etterbeek. No incident, no sign of anything wrong when she paid. Everything seemed normal. Her bank card never left her wallet. She receives no particular alert message. Yet, behind the scenes, her bank details were already being used.
It was only later, when she got home, that the situation became apparent. When she opened her banking application to make a transfer to her son, she noticed some unusual movements. Several recent debits appeared. The beneficiary: a casino.
‘It’s a good thing I opened my banking application when I did,’ she says.
Without this check, the fraud could have continued even longer.
Serial debits to an online casino
On examining her transactions, France identified five debits that she claimed she had never authorised. The transactions were reconciled, structured and directed to a gambling establishment. The amounts are deliberately split up and do not exceed €30 each – a technique often used to avoid automatic blocking.
‘They copied my bank card details’, she explains.
While she was trying to understand, the situation was still evolving. By the time she contacted her bank, two new transactions had been recorded. Then another, live, while she was on the phone to customer services. In less than an hour, eight transactions had been triggered.
The pattern was clear: multiple payments of small amounts, made close together to reduce the risk of automatic detection. When added together, they quickly exceeded €200. The bank finally blocked the card. But there is an additional difficulty: some transactions are already scheduled to be debited the next morning. Even after they have been blocked, they can no longer be stopped.
Yet France says she is particularly careful. She rarely uses her card and prefers cash payments. Ironically, the fraud occurred on one of the rare occasions when she didn’t have any cash.
A complaint lodged and an investigation underway
Faced with this situation, France lodged a complaint. A police investigation has been launched to trace the transactions and identify their origin. The authorities will have to determine whether other victims were affected in the same sector or in the same establishments. At the same time, the victim has taken steps with his insurance company to try to obtain reimbursement of the sums lost. The outcome will depend on the terms of cover and the bank’s analysis of the nature of the transactions.
Since the incident, France has changed her habits. It has deactivated the contactless payment function on all its cards. She has also chosen to warn the public at large: family, friends, neighbours and local residents via social networks. Her objective is clear: to prevent others from suffering the same misfortune without understanding what is happening to them.
‘It’s worrying,’ she says. ‘Before, we were talking mainly about small amounts, but now the sums can quickly exceed €50.’
Why do these frauds go under the radar?
The modus operandi observed in this case is based on three levers: speed, fragmented amounts and discretion. By multiplying payments of less than €30, fraudsters reduce the risk of triggering automatic alerts. Many users do not check their banking application continuously, which leaves them a window of opportunity.
Another weakness exploited is the delay between authorisation and the final recording of payments. Even after an objection has been lodged, certain transactions that have already been initiated continue to take place.
Physical storage of the card therefore does not guarantee data security. Fraud no longer necessarily involves stealing objects, but reproducing information.