Financial frauds kept away: Nearly 400,000 visits to Home’Bank’s digital security solutions

A campaign launched by ING Bank Romania used the metaphor of “financial donuts” to promote the Online Fraud Safety Kit

Online financial protection is important all year round, but even more so during the holiday season, when moments of relaxation can become opportunities for fraudsters. In response, ING Bank Romania offers the Safety Kit in the Home’Bank app, which recorded nearly 400,000 visits during a campaign run between August 7-18, showing that Romanians are actively seeking ways to protect themselves from fraud.

Home’Bank Safety Kit: Proactive protection

The Safety Kit is a central feature in the Home’Bank app, bringing together a series of security options to protect customers’ accounts. It allows users to check which settings are active and enable those they haven’t yet used, strengthening protection against online fraud.

„Fraudsters have precise goals: to obtain card data, login information, or to trick people into making payments directly into their accounts. To add an extra layer of protection, we developed tools such as the Safety Kit. Features like geolocation, setting a trusted device, using strong passwords, SMS verification, and enabling notifications make transactions much safer.

At the same time, prevention starts with individual vigilance: avoiding suspicious links and consistently applying security measures creates strong protection, essential for long-term financial safety,” – Alin Becheanu, Head of Fraud Monitoring & Prevention, ING Bank Romania.

Key Safety Kit features generated significant interest, with tens of thousands of activations between August 7-18. The top 3 were:

• Biometric authentication, a simple and secure way to access the app and authorize operations (fingerprint or facial recognition) – over 60,000 activations;
  
• Geolocation, which can automatically block suspicious transactions made from countries other than the user’s current location, using the phone’s GPS coordinates – over 45,000 activations;
  
• Push notifications, informing customers in real time about any account activity – nearly 27,000 activations.

In addition, users opted for other protection measures included in the Safety Kit, such as creating a complex password, confirming actions via SMS, setting a trusted device, and keeping the app up to date, highlighting the growing need for digital vigilance.

The Safety Kit is available in Home’Bank -> More > Security & Login. Users can check which security options are active and activate any inactive ones. Depending on the activated options and their progress, each client can assess their security level through a built-in safety barometer.

A safety message delivered in a holiday experience

In response to the growing need for financial education and online safety, ING Bank Romania launched the campaign “Keep the Financial Donuts away”, part of the SummerKiss project on the coast. In Romanian, the expression “to sell donuts” (“a vinde gogoși”) means “to tell lies”. The initiative addresses a serious topic in a relaxed, holiday-friendly way, raising awareness for the “financial donuts” out there, a metaphor for the false promises used by fraudsters. The campaign’s message: Have fun, stay safe, keep the financial donuts away!

“We started from a simple observation: when we’re on holiday, we relax and let our guard down. That’s exactly when fraudsters take advantage of our vulnerabilities. So we decided to deliver a safety message in the most unexpected place and in the friendliest way possible. We want people to have fun while leaving the beach with a set of knowledge that will protect them in the long term.

Feedback was very positive, with 20% of clients accessing Home’Bank security solutions during this period,” added Alin Becheanu, Head of Fraud Monitoring & Prevention, ING Bank Romania.

Fraud types explained simply and creatively

The campaign delivers a simple, direct message: recognize fraud types. Using the metaphor of “financial donuts,” ING Bank Romania highlights the most common traps, illustrated with creative and humorous messages:

• “The Dulce-de-Lege Donut” (The Sweet-Law Donut”) – (impersonating authorities)
  
• “The Immediate Donut” (fake offers and pressure to act quickly)
  
• “The Profiterole Donut” (unrealistic promises of guaranteed earnings)
  
• “The Haihui Donut” (The Wandering Donut) – (attempts to access accounts from other locations)
  

This approach makes a serious topic easier to understand, reminding users that prevention depends both on the tools provided by the bank and each person’s vigilance.

Daily contests and creative beach activations

The campaign started on August 7 and runs daily until the end of August as part of the ING Bank Romania x SummerKiss project. Two popular beaches became the setting for interactive activations designed to raise awareness about fraud risks in a creative and memorable way.

• Beach contests and prizes: Visitors at Neversea Beach in Constanța enjoyed over 1,000 donuts from The Donut Library, won in DJ booth contests that continue throughout August. Participants could also dedicate a song to a “fraudster,” while the beach prize wheel distributed over 2,000 prizes along with educational and fraud-prevention messages.
  
• Interactive activations: Over 1,000 online safety and fraud-prevention quizzes were held on the beach. The “Password Donut Seller” activation was particularly popular, and attendees were impressed by mentalist Vlad Grigorescu. To amplify the campaign message, ING Bank Romania also collaborated with influencers Alex Delea and Anca Mădălina.
  
• Expert anti-fraud advice: An on-stage interview with an ING Bank Romania fraud prevention expert provided the audience with valuable, practical tips.
  

About ING Bank Romania

ING Bank Romania is part of the ING Group, a global financial institution serving over 38 million clients—individuals, companies, and institutions in more than 40 countries. Established in 1994, ING Bank Romania is now a universal bank offering products and services for all types of clients: large and small companies, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, and individuals. ING Bank Romania is the only bank in the top 10 local banks by assets to grow organically, without acquiring client portfolios or other banks. With over 1.9 million clients across retail, SME & Mid-Corporate, and Wholesale Banking segments, ING’s mission is to help people stay one step ahead in life and business.