Protecting Consumers from Financial Scams and Frauds

Annex C. Classification template

This classification template corresponds to the proposed typology outlined in Chapter 3, which aims to help public authorities that do not yet have a classification or typology in place monitor and analyse different types of financial scams and frauds. Public authorities are encouraged to use the classification template to ensure consistent classification along the ten dimensions. Depending on resources and the volume of fraud-related cases and/or consumer complaints, the classification template can be used for aggregated or sampled analysis, or as a conceptual reference to support data structuring at an aggregated level.

Personal characteristics

1. Age of victim

☐ 18-19 years

☐ 20-29 years

☐ 30-39 years

☐ 40-49 years

☐ 50-59 years

☐ 60-69 years

☐ 70 years and over

☐ Prefer not to answer / Unknown

2. Sex and/or gender of victim1

☐ Male

☐ Female

☐ Prefer not to answer / Unknown

3. Employment status of victim

☐ In paid employment [e.g. work for someone else]

☐ Self-employed [e.g. work for yourself / own a business]

☐ Retired

☐ Looking for work [Unemployed]

☐ Not working and not looking for work

☐ Student

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

4. Marital status of victim

☐ Single

☐ Married/common-law

☐ Divorced/ separated

☐ Widowed

5. Highest level of education completed by victim

☐ Primary school education or vocational school without secondary school course

☐ Secondary (complete secondary education)

☐ Tertiary (Bachelor’s degree or higher professional education)

6. Language most frequently spoken at home by victim

☐ National official language

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

7. Other relevant socio-demographic information, e.g. disability, recipient of income support and/or social security: ___________________________________________________________________

Contact or medium form

8. Victims were first reached via:

☐ Applications (apps)

☐ E-mail

☐ In-person

☐ Mail fraud

☐ Phone call

☐ Social media message

☐ SMS or text message

☐ Online advertisements/websites

☐ TV or radio advertisements

☐ Fax

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

Scheme or modus operandi

9. What was (were) the tactic(s) of the fraudster or scammer to trick victims?

☐ Advanced fee/recovery scam

☐ Authorised push payment (APP) scam

☐ Biometric ID fraud

☐ Blackmail, threat or extortion scams (including ransomware or malware attacks)

☐ Charity and disaster scams

☐ Dating and romance scams

☐ Debt settlement, or debt relief scams

☐ Elder fraud (e.g. scams targeting seniors)

☐ Easy or cost-free credit scams

☐ Identity theft

☐ Investment scams (including crypto-asset scams)

☐ Insurance fraud

☐ Jobs and employment scams (i.e. recruitment fraud)

☐ Mobile app fraud

☐ Money mule scams

☐ Mortgage fraud, including mortgage closing scams

☐ Fraudsters posing as real states developers, SACCO/village promoters and governments social protection recruiters

☐ Online auction scams

☐ Pension scams

☐ Pet scams (e.g. scammers posing as pet breeders)

☐ Ponzi schemes

☐ Sale of non-existent goods or services

☐ Scammers posing as banks, financial advisers, or other financial services providers

☐ Scammers posing as representatives of the government or official entities (e.g. revenue services, social assistance)

☐ SIM swapping

☐ Skimming (when devices illegally installed on ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, or fuel pumps capture data or record cardholders' PINs)

☐ Student financial aid scams

☐ Travel or vacation scams

☐ Tricking consumers to provide personally identifiable information [phishing (online), vishing (over the phone) or smishing (through SMS)]

☐ Unexpected money scams (e.g. lottery scams)

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

Financial product(s) or service(s) targeted:

10. Choose all that apply. Note that this list is broken down by product or service sector (i.e. banking and payments, consumer credit, insurance, investments, and pensions).

 

Sector	Product or service
Banking and payments	☐ Transaction account ☐ Savings account ☐ Debit card ☐ Mobile money ☐ E-money ☐ Digital wallet ☐ Super app (including e-commerce platform)		☐ Cross-border transactions (including remittances) ☐ Push payments (customer-initiated transfers) ☐ Instant payments ☐ Account information services ☐ Other product or service Click or tap here to enter text.
Consumer Credit	☐ Personal loans ☐ Buy Now, Pay Later ☐ Salary advance/earned wage access ☐ Payday lending ☐ Credit cards ☐ Mortgages/home loans		☐ Overdraft facilities ☐ Car loans/auto financing ☐ SME loans ☐ Peer-to-peer lending ☐ Other product or service Click or tap here to enter text.
Insurance	☐ Life insurance ☐ Home buildings insurance ☐ Home contents insurance ☐ Motor insurance ☐ Travel insurance ☐ Health insurance ☐ Credit protection insurance (not including home loans/mortgages)		☐ Home loan/Mortgage protection insurance ☐ Funeral or burial insurance ☐ Gadget insurance (e.g. electronic items) ☐ Other product or service Click or tap here to enter text.
Investments	☐ Managed funds ☐ Equity ☐ Sustainable financial products (e.g. sustainable or “green” stocks, bonds and funds) ☐ Cryptocurrency/digital assets ☐ Peer-to-peer lending platforms ☐ Crowdfunding		☐ Unit-linked insurance (including hybrid products) ☐ Retail/self-directed online investment platforms ☐ Derivatives trading ☐ Financial advice/advisory services ☐ Other product or service Click or tap here to enter text.
Pensions	☐ Management of assets ☐ Benefits payments ☐ Provision of information to members (e.g. account statements)	☐ Financial advice ☐ Support to transfer assets ☐ Other product or service Click or tap here to enter text.

Method of payment or investment

11. How was the money transferred?

☐ Cash

☐ Gift cards

☐ Crypto assets (including Central Bank Digital Currency)

☐ Debit cards

☐ Electronic or wire transfers

☐ Mobile payments (including QR payments)

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

Fraud detection

12. Who initially detected the fraud?

☐ Consumer

☐ Financial services provider

☐ Law enforcement

☐ Financial Authority

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

13. If the consumer detected the fraud, how did they detect it?

☐ Unusual transactions

☐ Loss of funds

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

14. If the financial services provider detected the fraud, how did they detect it?

☐ Unusual transactions

☐ Loss of funds

☐ Two-factor authentication procedures

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

Recovery status of funds

15. What was the total amount of financial loss incurred by the consumer? [Include all funds lost before any recovery or reimbursement]: _________________

16. Were any of the original funds lost to the financial scam or fraud recovered and returned to the consumer (e.g. through transaction reversal, clawback, seizure or investigation)?

☐ Yes, fully reimbursed

☐ Yes, partially reimbursed

☐ Unable to recover funds

17. If unable to recover funds, please indicate if this is due to gross negligence from the consumer:

☐ Due to gross negligence

18. Were any funds refunded or reimbursed to the consumer by a bank, payment provider, merchant or other entity (e.g. due to liability, policy, statutory obligation)?

☐ Yes

☐ No

19. If yes:

Amount refunded/reimbursed: _______________________________________________________

Refunding entity:

☐ Bank

☐ Payment provider

☐ Merchant

☐ Other: Click or tap here to enter text.

Basis of reimbursement (if known):

☐ Statutory obligation

☐ Policy/goodwill

☐ Liability determination

☐ Other: Click or tap here to enter text.

Nature of authorisation

20. Was there a consumer authorisation mechanism in place for the transaction/interaction?

☐ Yes

☐ No

21. If yes, who authorised the transaction/interaction?

☐ Account/product holder

☐ Authorised representative

☐ Fraudster

☐ Other Click or tap here to enter text.

Status of entity (if applicable)

22. What type of fraudster was involved?

☐ Individual/ third-party

☐ Entity

23. Was the financial services provider involved licensed/authorised to carry out the activity in the jurisdiction where the fraud took place?

☐ The entity was fully licensed to operate for the activity related to the fraud, in the jurisdiction where the fraud took place

☐ The entity was licensed to operate for some activities in the jurisdiction, but not the activity related to the fraud

☐ The entity was not licensed to operate in the jurisdiction where the fraud took place, but is authorised in another jurisdiction

☐ The entity was fictitious (e.g. the entity is neither licensed to operate in the jurisdiction where the fraud took place nor another jurisdiction)

24. If the financial services provider is licensed elsewhere, was the fraud carried out by a third-party fraudster?

☐ Yes

☐ No

Note

← 1.  Jurisdictions may select the appropriate terminology depending on their national context.