Overview

• Sparkasse and HypoVereinsbank have alerted customers to phishing emails that mimic official communications and pressure recipients to submit online-banking credentials under the threat of account closure
• The Rhineland-Palatinate tax authority and Mimikama have flagged fake Elster emails claiming missing crypto declarations and directing users to counterfeit websites to steal tax IDs, login details and bank data
• Consumers and the Verbraucherzentrale report phishing messages impersonating Netflix, warning of payment failures and prompting subscribers to renew their payment methods
• The Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg ruled that banks are not obligated to reimburse customers who suffer losses after acting with gross negligence in phishing schemes
• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s data privacy commissioner warns that AI-generated deepfakes and personalized messaging are making phishing attacks more difficult to detect