Starting this week, banks in Lithuania and across the eurozone will be required to verify whether a payment recipient’s name matches the account number, in a move aimed at reducing fraud, the Bank of Lithuania says.
The check will take only a few seconds, and customers will immediately be notified of the result, officials say. The final decision to proceed with the transfer will remain with the sender.
Until now, money transfers have been processed solely based on the account number, regardless of the name provided.
“You could enter Mickey Mouse as the name, and the money would still go through,” said Kestutis Kupsys, vice president of the Consumers’ Alliance.
Under the new system, customers will see one of four messages: data match, close match, unable to verify, or data mismatch.
“This last one is the most important, because it indicates you may be the target of fraud,” said Evaldas Ruzgys, a board member of the Bank of Lithuania.
The measure comes as financial scams are on the rise. In the first half of this year alone, Lithuanians lost more than EUR 10 million to fraud, according to the central bank. Cases of attempted fraud tripled compared with last year.
The Bank Association’s president, Eivile Cipkute, said the largest losses came from investment scams and so-called business email compromise schemes, where fraudsters impersonated company executives or suppliers.
She added that the new checks could also help expose romance scams.
“When someone pretends to be Brad Pitt or another celebrity, the verification will show that no such account holder exists,” she said.
Similar systems are already in place in the Netherlands and Portugal, where regulators said fraud cases fell by several dozen percent.
Even with the new safeguard, banks warn that vigilance remains key.
“The bank will still allow you to make the payment, but it will be your decision. Awareness is critical,” Ruzgys said.
Officials stressed that verification messages would appear only in online banking or mobile apps, not via SMS or email, to prevent new phishing attempts.
“The check result must come directly from the bank. It cannot come from anywhere else,” Kupsys said.
The verification will be mandatory only for transfers within the eurozone. Payments to countries outside the bloc, such as Poland, will return a notification stating that no data could be found. (LRT)