ABN Amro is trying to get to grips with a new phenomena – begging online for cash using its micro payment system Tikkie – because it is often unclear who is behind the accounts.

So far the bank has managed to have 50 of an estimated 100 ‘Tikkie accounts’ removed from Facebook and Instagram, in which people ask for donations so they can by food or have plastic surgery, broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday.

Tikkie is a system which allows people to pay over money using a payment link either via a mobile phone or social media. Some five million people in the Netherlands have downloaded the app and some 200,000 payments are made using it every day.

Now youngsters are using the system to raise money, often in tiny amounts, NOS said. Mustafa, 15, told the broadcaster he had raised €12 though his Tikkie voor iPhonex account. Wouter and Sacha claim to have raised ‘a good amount’ with their Tikkie voor Kaas account.

ABN Amro is not happy with the trend and is trying to tackle it. ‘We are in touch with Facebook, which owns Instagram, about how to solve it,’ a spokesman told the broadcaster. ‘We do take these sorts of accounts offline and Facebook and Instagram are trying as well.’

Youngsters should be extremely careful about making payments to unknown accounts because they can be exposing themselves to fraud, the bank said.

Accounts which wrongly use the Tikkie logo are automatically removed but it is more problematic if people are simply trying to raise money for a new phone or a trip to the US, the spokesman said.