BaFin warns landshypotek-bnk.com offers unauthorised banking and misuses Landshypotek Bank identity
BaFin warns landshypotek-bnk.com offers banking without authorisation while posing as Sweden's Landshypotek Bank, which is not involved and appears to be impersonated.
- First reported
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Source: bafin.de · published
What happened
Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) warned on 6 November 2026 about offers on the website landshypotek-bnk(.)com. According to BaFin's findings, banking business is being offered on the site without the authorisation required in Germany. BaFin says the operators present themselves under the firm name Landshypotek Bank, claim a business address in Stockholm, Sweden, and publish a register number on the site. The genuine Swedish Landshypotek Bank is impersonated and is not involved.
How the scam works
BaFin says it has no indication that the real Landshypotek Bank has any connection with landshypotek-bnk(.)com or the services offered there, and that this appears to be a case of identity theft at the expense of the Swedish bank. Using the name, address and register details of a genuine, regulated bank is a common way to make a fake banking site look trustworthy. Anyone who checks the name will find a real institution, which can create false confidence.
Fake bank websites of this kind typically advertise savings accounts or fixed-term deposits with interest rates above market levels, or loans with easy approval. Customers are asked to open an account online, send identity documents and transfer their deposit to an account given by the operators. The money does not reach the real bank, and the identity documents can be misused. Loan offers on such sites often end with requests for upfront fees before any money is paid out. The added letters in the address, bnk instead of the bank's real domain, are easy to miss.
BaFin published the warning under section 37(4) of the German Banking Act (KWG) and reminds the public that offering banking, financial, securities, crypto-asset or payment services in Germany requires its authorisation. Before depositing money, check BaFin's company database and contact the bank only through the address on its official website or the regulator's register. People who have already transferred money should contact their own bank immediately and report the matter to the police.
Source
BaFin consumer warning, 6 November 2026: https://www.bafin.de/SharedDocs/Veroeffentlichungen/DE/Verbrauchermitteilung/unerlaubte/2026/meldung_2026_11_06_landshypotek_bnk_com.html
Red flags
- A bank website whose address adds or drops letters from a real bank's name, such as landshypotek-bnk.com.
- Interest rates on deposits well above what other banks offer.
- Requests to transfer deposits to an account given by email or on the site.
- A real bank's name, address and register number on an unfamiliar site.
- Loan offers that require an upfront fee before payout.
If you were targeted
- 1Check BaFin's company database before depositing money with any bank offering services in Germany.
- 2Reach the bank only through its official website or the regulator's register, not through a link or ad.
- 3Do not send identity documents or money to landshypotek-bnk.com.
- 4If you have paid, contact your bank immediately and report the matter to the police.
- 5Report suspicious offers to BaFin.