The Financial Supervisory Authority’s stastistics show that large-scale internet fraud has been rare in Hungary, but the National Security Office warns us to be prepared for an increase in online swindles. Now that there are 450,000 users of e-banking services in Hungary, experts expect the risk to increase.

According to data released by GKI Economic Research in January, there were 436,000 domestic and 65,000 business users of the online current account services offered by Hungarian financial institutions last September – an increase on a year ago of 43 and 24 percent respectively. The number of customers using mobile phone-based banking services has risen by 70 percent in the past year, to 490,000. A study conducted by GfK Market Research Institute shows that the number of companies carrying out bank transanctions on the internet is growing fast, with 78 percent of companies making use of e-banking services.