Fraudsters exploit people's trust in state authorities to obtain personal and financial information. To do this, they pretend to be BaFin employees on the phone or in emails, for example, and use the names of actual BaFin employees without their knowledge.

There are also letters in circulation with imitation BaFin letterhead or logos that are forgeries. Fraudsters also repeatedly advertise with fake "BaFin certificates" that simulate licenses or approvals from BaFin.

Be very suspicious if you are contacted by a supposed BaFin employee: BaFin does not contact individuals on its own initiative, for example to advise them on financial products or to ask for a sum of money to be paid into a specific account. Also, do not respond if someone else asks you to make a payment to a supposed BaFin account, for example to confirm your identity or your account.

The scammers try to intimidate their victims by claiming that there will be legal consequences if the victims do not cooperate. During the conversation, for example, they threaten to block an account or initiate debt collection proceedings if a certain amount of money is not paid.