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ALTA depositors: what's next

Stay safe: avoid scams

After a licence is revoked, people turn up in chats and private messages offering help in return for money or your personal data. Below is what the authorities have said, and what we advise. Where it says “advice”, it is our opinion, not a rule of law.

Nobody can buy you a place in line

Section titled “Nobody can buy you a place in line”

Only AOD and the court decide whether your claim goes on the list; nobody can change the order of payments. AOD pays the insured amount up to €50,000 to all insured depositors by law, and the list of claims above the limit is checked by AOD as administrator and then by the court (art. 17 of the Law on Bankruptcy and Liquidation of Banks). The order of payments is set by law (art. 20), and nobody can buy a place in it.

  • “We will speed up the payout”, “we will put you on the list”, “we will get it back faster for a percentage”: AOD, the National Bank and the court have announced no such services.
  • The law allows recognised and disputed claims to be transferred (assigned): both parties sign a contract, their signatures are certified, and the bank in bankruptcy is notified of the transfer in writing (art. 117a of the Bankruptcy Law).
  • AOD, the National Bank and the court do not offer to buy claims. If someone offers to buy your claim, do not sign anything or send any documents until your lawyer has read the contract.
  • Official announcements come from AOD (aod.rs), the National Bank (nbs.rs) and the Commercial Court in Belgrade; the bankruptcy notice is published in the Official Gazette, Službeni glasnik (art. 7 of the Law on Bankruptcy and Liquidation of Banks). Check any message against these sources.

AOD already announced the payout conditions on 06.11.2026: from 13.11 at Poštanska branches (AOD notice, 06.11.2026). Check any other “announcement” against aod.rs.

What not to send

Section titled “What not to send”

Advice: do not send your passport, bank agreement, statements, account number, JMBG or card photos in chats, private messages or to “organisers”. Exceptions: a lawyer you have signed a contract with, and AOD or the court themselves, through the official channels they announce. For the payout of up to €50,000 you will show your documents at a branch of the paying bank, Banka Poštanska štedionica; the payout runs from 13.11.2026 at the 54 branches on AOD’s list (AOD notice, 06.11.2026; branch list). Bring a valid identity document and the original deposit document. If someone else goes for an individual: an authorisation certified by a notary, dated no earlier than the day the licence was revoked (30.10.2026); authorisations issued before the revocation cannot be used (AOD forms).

ALTA loan: do not pay via SMS. On 04.11.2026 the National Bank warned of fraudulent SMS from “AltaPay” and from unknown numbers asking ALTA borrowers to repay their loans (NBS, 04.11.2026). Pay only to the account AOD announced on 06.11.2026: the dinar account of ALTA in bankruptcy held at the NBS, no. 780-282-42, with the loan account number in the «poziv na broj» field (AOD instruction). If your loan is with ALTA GROUP DOO Beograd (not the bank): account 200-3408551901000-45 at Poštanska štedionica; NBS, 06.11.2026: pay only to these two accounts and do not trust suspicious messages or emails (NBS, 06.11.2026).

The insurance payout is free

Section titled “The insurance payout is free”

«Загарантовано осигурање депозита је бесплатно за депоненте» (“Guaranteed deposit insurance is free of charge for depositors”) — AOD, questions and answers.

AOD’s notice of 06.11.2026 on the payout conditions mentions no charges for depositors. Advice: a request to pay a “commission” or “fee” for the insurance payout is a reason to stop and check on aod.rs.

If someone writes “from AOD”

Section titled “If someone writes “from AOD””

Advice: do not reply to the message; find the contact yourself on the AOD contacts page (Masarikova 5, Belgrade) and call or write there. AOD announced the payout conditions on 06.11.2026 on aod.rs: the payout runs from 13.11.2026 at Poštanska branches; the branch list is published on aod.rs and posted.co.rs (AOD notice, 06.11.2026).

How to check a lawyer

Section titled “How to check a lawyer”

If a “lawyer” writes to you from an unfamiliar Telegram profile, first check that they are in the official register (directory) of a bar association.

  1. Look the person up in the bar directory: where and how to search, and how to see their cases in the courts’ open databases, is on the page A lawyer: why, how to choose and how to check.
  2. A matching name is not enough. Compare the city, the office address and the phone number from the register, and call that number yourself, not the one given in Telegram. We compared 16 “lawyer” profiles from Instagram with the register: 10 were in it, and for 4 of them the details in the profile did not match the register. This is not necessarily fraud, but a reason to ask again. Hashtags and captions such as “lawyer Belgrade” prove nothing.
  3. A “legal consultant” (pravnik, not a member of the bar), “legal adviser” or a residence-permit agency will not be in the lawyers’ register, and that is normal. But such a person cannot represent you in court in the bankruptcy case and is not bound by attorney–client privilege. An agency with “lawyer” on its sign is a company; lawyers appear in the register by their surnames.
  4. Advice: a real lawyer works under a written contract or power of attorney (punomoćje) and does not ask for an advance payment to a private person’s card.
  5. Not in the register, or the contacts do not match: do not send documents.

Where to complain

Section titled “Where to complain”
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