In the act. Banks are securing themselves in a new way

Throughout 2025, thieves stole approximately PLN 800 million from Poles’ accounts using non-cash payment instruments (cards, transfer orders and direct debits!) The ARC Rynek i Opinie study commissioned by mBank shows that 87 percent Poles have encountered an attempt to extort money, and 11 percent actually lost funds.

We are not talking about losing a few zlotys, but most often all the savings accumulated in the account, because cybercriminals try to obtain from us in various ways the login and password for online banking, PIN code or ATM cards or Blik transactions. They are becoming more and more perfidious and ruthless, but knowing the fraud scenarios, banks propose new security measures. This time the thieves are caught red-handed.

mBank will identify thieves red-handed. New security

One of the methods most often used by fraudsters is impersonating bank employees or police officers. They call customers and convince them that their account funds are at risk, or the bank is currently under an “attack on a specific account” and the money needs to be urgently transferred to a technical account, or they try to convince them to install a supposed security application. At such a moment, it is difficult to keep your cool and not be fooled and not provide your login details. And many customers approve bank transactions almost automatically: the average time is only about 2 seconds.

A new solution that is intended to quickly and effectively confuse criminals was introduced by mBank. It allows the user to check during a telephone conversation whether the other party is actually a bank employee or a fraudster!

If it is not a conversation with a bank employee, a simple message immediately appears in the mobile application, which receives a signal from the phone’s operating system about the ongoing connection: “you are not talking to mBank right now.” Just hang up immediately so you don’t lose your money.

How to enable a new function in the mBank application?

The new function in the mBank application gives clear information that this is not a conversation authorized by the bank. To use the new function, just log in to the banking application during a suspicious conversation. According to mBank, customers use this option on average every few minutes.

The new “Enable Transaction Block” feature does not replace existing security measures, but complements them. It allows you to immediately block transfers, card payments, Blik codes and ATM withdrawals, without having to completely block access to the account or application.

To activate the block, go to the application settings and select the “transaction block” option. Then simply follow the instructions displayed on the screen. After enabling the function, a message will appear informing you that the lock is active.