Account retrievals from German banks explode

The consulting firm McKinsey recently published an interesting study with regard to digitization and the use of online services by German citizens. Almost one in five consumers in Germany with Internet access is using digital services such as online banking or ordering groceries for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Germany, a major economic nation, ranks only second to last in terms of digital usage behavior within Europe. Only consumers in Switzerland are less digital.

Germans worry about their data

One important reason for this is the data protection and security concerns of German citizens, which are greater than in any other country in Europe. Despite ranking second to last, the use of digital channels and services also outweighs analog alternatives in Germany during the Corona restrictions. Much of this is due to entire sectors being forced into digital offerings as a result of the pandemic.

In no European country is distrust of digital offerings as pronounced as in Germany. On a trust scale of one to five, the trust level of German users is 3.42. The most important trust factor is the careful handling of personal data (48%). However, one in five respondents fears that data will not be protected appropriately. By contrast, concern about an insecure online payment process hardly plays a role (13%). Finns (3.7) and Norwegians (3.66) have the highest trust in digital services and offerings. These current figures once again confirm the clear lack of trust in the ability of states, organizations and companies to protect personal data. You must take the protection of your data into your own hands.

Privacy: Data snoopers Germany

The company Surfshark has examined the transparency reports of the tech companies Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple on user data requests from the government side within the last eight years, the results for the European area shows the following Statista graphic. According to this, Malta is particularly curious about the data of its population - around 765 user data queries are made here for every 100,000 inhabitants. The second-largest inquirer in Europe is Germany.

In the Federal Republic, there were about 293,660 user data queries to tech companies between 2013 and 2020, or about 353 per 100,000 inhabitants. Since 2013, the number of user data queries has increased by about 213%. Of the 66 countries surveyed worldwide, seven EU members are in the top 10 nations with the most queries.

Big Brother Awards: The Data Octopus 2021

I'm a big proponent of digitization. At the same time, however, I am also an advocate of data protection and privacy. That's why I've been supporting the "Big Brother Awards" for years, which draw attention to serious undesirable developments in these segments.

On Jurni 11, Digitalcourage and other civil rights organizations presented the BigBrotherAwards for the 21st time. The categories "Public Intellectual" and "What makes me really angry" were awarded for the first time. This year, the "Oscars for Surveillance" went to the following protagonists:

"Traffic" category

The European Commission receives the BigBrotherAward 2021 in the transport category for the introduction of the "On-Board Fuel Consumption Meter" (OBFCM) procedure. This involves recording significant amounts of a car's technical information and transmitting it to the manufacturer together with the vehicle identification number. OBFCM has been mandatory for new cars since the beginning of 2021.

"Education" category

Proctorio-GmbH receives the BigBrotherAward 2021 for the offered "fully automated exam proctoring service", which is supposed to enable total control of students during online exams. During the exam, the AI-based software is said to recognize, in particular, looks from examinees that indicate an attempt to cheat and then automatically sound the alarm.

"Public Intellectual" Category

The BigBrotherAward 2021 in the "Public Intellectual" category goes to philosopher and deputy chairman of the German Ethics Council Julian Nida-Rümelin for his untenable claim, made several times in public, that data protection makes it more difficult to fight Corona and is responsible for thousands of deaths.

Category "What makes me really angry"

Google receives the BigBrotherAward 2021 for recently revealed massive manipulation of the Internet advertising market, starvation of creatives and media, and expropriation of our digital personalities.

"Health" category

The BigBrotherAward 2021 in the health category goes to Doctolib GmbH, Berlin. In particular, Doctolib offers the mediation of medical appointments via its platform. This data is processed in breach of confidentiality obligations and, according to the data protection agreement, is also used for commercial marketing purposes.

Only 41% of Germans protect their data

The international "Safer Internet Day" (SID) took place on February 9. The focus of this year's SID was on strengthening people's own passwords. The day also aims to raise public awareness of issues such as cyberbullying and cybercrime. Especially in times of home office and homeschooling, it is important to raise awareness for internet security. This is also urgently needed.

Only 41% of Germans actively try to protect their data on the Internet. This is the result of a survey conducted as part of the Statista Consumer Survey 2020. According to the survey, Germans are comparatively cautious when it comes to handling sensitive data. The top score in a European comparison is achieved by the Spanish respondents - here, around 45% make an effort to protect personal information. Respondents from France (31.3%) and South Korea (20.9%) attach less importance to active data protection.

Tax evasion: Federal Ministry of Finance buys data from Dubai

The Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) has acquired data on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance in order to uncover tax crimes. This is the first time that the BZSt has independently acquired data that become essential for taxation, among other things. The data were assigned by the BZSt to the respective supreme tax authorities of the federal states. Recently, the data was handed over to the federal states for examination so that they can check it for aspects of criminal tax law and decide whether to initiate criminal tax investigation proceedings.

The background to the acquisition of the tax data: Thousands of Germans are affected

On January 14, 2021, the Federal Ministry of Finance instructed the BZSt to conduct negotiations with an anonymous informant and to acquire the data. After the negotiations were completed, the BZSt acquired the data on February 10, 2021. Since that date, the data has been processed so that it can be made available to the relevant countries for analysis. The data contains comprehensive information on millions of taxpayers worldwide and on several thousand German taxpayers who have assets in Dubai.

Among other things, the acquired data will be used to uncover tax crimes of transnational, international or significant importance. The data can provide insights into unknown assets and conclusions about undeclared income. Screening cross-border facts ensures tax enforcement and thus avoids high tax losses. This is a high priority for both the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Central Tax Office.

Check your foreign accounts and shareholdings for legacy issues

Private investors or companies that still maintain undeclared foreign accounts and deposits or holdings - directly or also indirectly via letterbox companies - should not rely on time healing the tax wounds or misdeeds. Instead, they should take action themselves in order to find a professional way back into tax honesty.

Otherwise, the likelihood that the dangers and penalties arising from old tax burdens will become more and more pronounced increases. Specialized law firms with experienced tax advisors and specialist lawyers for tax law from my expert network will be happy to assist you in an examining or advisory capacity. Also in the case that the child has already fallen into the well and criminal tax proceedings are threatening or have already been opened.

Account Retrievals from Banks in Germany Explode

Now to another area of highly sensitive data. In addition to the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) on bank accounts, there is another government surveillance measure, known as account screening, which enables targeted account retrievals by a large number of authorities, not only in Germany but also in Austria. In both countries, there are central account registers that can be viewed by a large number of state authorities at the push of a button. Terrorist financing, money laundering, tax fraud, social abuse or defaulting private debtors should thus be combated.

German banks are glass houses

Thus to another data octopus implemented in the banking system of Germany: The - clandestine - account retrievals by state authorities have continued to increase massively and have now clearly exceeded the million mark on an annual basis, setting a new record. Tax offices as well as numerous other authorities conducted 1,304,565 queries last year alone. At the start of the so-called "account screening" some 15 years ago, there were just 8,700 queries of bank accounts. In terms of the number of queries, this corresponds to a factor of 1,000. On each weekday, German banks query the data of around 6,000 citizens on average.

In the meantime, banks in Germany are even obliged to transmit the addresses and tax identification numbers of those queried to the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern) without informing the account holder about this data transfer. In the past, such customer data could be deleted from the banks' database after three years following the closure of an account or securities account. In the meantime, this is only permitted after 10 years have elapsed following the closure of an account/deposit. Personal data can therefore still be queried retroactively for many years, even after an account or securities account has been closed. Thus, a mere account closure does not protect against risks from legacy data!

For foreign accounts, account screening at the push of a button is not possible

Banking secrecy has long been a thing of the past in tax or official matters. Even former "discretion havens" like Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland or Liechtenstein had to give up their once legendary numbered account systems due to international pressure, the automated exchange of information AIA was introduced. However, this is a different system than the account screening procedure in Germany. The above facts alone illustrate once again how important and valuable an account and securities account abroad are.

For example in Switzerland or in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Here, German authorities cannot simply and secretly query personal data at the push of a button as part of account screening. Additionally, accounts abroad, outside the systems of the EU liability community and the EU banking union, are one of the most important pillars for your capital protection strategy.