N26 unauthorized phishing payments, got my money back thanks to arbitration!

Hello! A couple months ago, I received a phishing message and sadly fell victim to it. After a long process of emails, complaints, and ultimately arbitration, I managed to get all of my money back. Seeing that this is a problem many people have experienced using n26 in Germany, I thought I would share how it all went down in case it is of help to anyone in the future.

I was sent a fraudulent text message impersonating DHL. As I was waiting for a package from them, I didn’t think twice before sharing my card information. As soon as I inputted my information, I received a notification from n26 informing me that I had signed up to a google pay account, but when I clicked on the notification, it led me nowhere. I searched through the app and found nothing, so I ignored the whole situation and forgot about it.

A couple days later, all of my money was quickly drained from my account (1500 euros) through a series of transactions before I could cancel the card. I immediately canceled them, filed a fraud report with n26 to begin their “chargeback” process, and filed a police report online. I sent n26 a copy of the police report in hopes that it would help my case. After almost 2 months of silence, I received a message saying that since the transactions were made through Google Pay which required explicit consent, there was nothing they could do. I tried to argue with their online customer service to explain that I do not recall officially confirming via the app nor receiving any kind of text message from n26, but it was pointless.

After reading other similar cases on reddit, I decided to turn to arbitration. I followed the instructions on this useful page of BaFin, and requested arbitration to resolve this issue. I broke down everything that happened, provided screenshots and copies of the different messages I received (from the scammers, n26…), bank statements, and the two documents they require you fill out, a “schlichtungsstelle” and “Erklärung gem. § 7 I 4 FinSV”. My case was redirected to the Deutsche Bundesbank arbitration board and I received an email asking for some more information. After that, they communicated all this with n26 and about a month afterwards I received all of my money back from n26. I got an email from them saying that “after further investigation” they had decided to give me my money back (how kind of them).

This was a stressful and annoying process, especially considering I speak B1 German and I had never filed a police report or even knew what arbitration was, but I am very glad I went through the process. If I could go back, I would not waste time arguing with n26 customer service since they obviously could care less if you live or die. They definitely care about the lawyer fees they might have to pay through a drawn out arbitration process, so your time is best used filling out those forms and sending them all the necessary information.

I hope this helps anyone in the future who has to go through this annoying process!