The big problem with credit cards is that all the info needed to authorize a transaction is right there on the card. The second problem is that quite often you submit that data directly to the merchant or to whichever payment provider the merchant chose.
With a credit card, on the other hand, you see what was taken _before_ you pay them. So you can tell the credit card company "this amount that was charged to me is not me, I'm not paying that". Then the credit card company has to look into it; they have incentive to figure out what happened (unlike banks) because they aren't getting payed back their "loan" to you until they do.
Merchants will usually not ship goods or provide services for a direct debit alone.
Same with my (UK) DD card, when I use it online. I occasionally get challenged by Visa/Mastercard for some passphrase or whatever. For retail purchases, I can usually just swipe. Periodically I'm asked for a PIN.
I prefer DD over CC, because I have full control over my liabilities, should someone try to drain my account, just by adjusting the balance on the account (and I can't link my deposit account with the card; so that's where the rich pickings are kept).
Also, way back when, I was pretty relaxed about credit balances, and the CC company kept raising my limits; I got into a lot of debt. Nowadays I don't use credit unless I'm forced to (which hasn't happened for 20 years). So I have a CC, with a zero balance (and the CC company is going to shut it down, because I'm not using it).
AFAIK none of the banks will reverse this activity, since technically you've authorised this transaction.
Laws and security adapts to whatever medium people tend to use, so common problems tend to have solutions. The laws in Europe are made to make debit card transactions and security reasonable, because almost everyone uses debit cards.
My credit card was compromised and AMEX has a problem. My debit card is compromised and I have several problems.
[0] https://plaid.com/resources/ach/how-does-an-ach-transfer-wor....
A notorious celebrity in the UK famously revealed his bank details as a stunt to show that a large-scale data loss incident wasn't a big deal and he ended up making an unexpected payment to a healthcare charity shortly afterwards.
Direct debit instructions require nothing beyond a name and account number.
You need a SEPA dd "mandate" which is a (paper or electronic) document account owner asks their bank for, containing a unique identifier
There's two ways this could happen, but neither is super easy:
1) You've handed over your physical debit card and it's PIN code to a baddie and not informed your bank. Unlike the security code on credit cards the PIN code is not on the card. Unlike credit cards you need the actual physical card to transfer money.
2) You've given a baddie your online login info and had him send you a QR code which you then scan and approve the amount.
Notable what does not happen, which does with credit cards, is making a payment at a webshop and that webshop then leaking your card info to a baddie. No one other than the bank ever sees the "secret" part of the card info.
In the UK we have a system of Direct Debits that is popular particularly for making recurring payments like household bills or subscriptions. You provide your bank account numbers to the merchant and they can collect the required money directly.
It sounds like a huge opportunity for abuse by merchants but the easy setup is balanced by a universal Direct Debit guarantee for account holders that basically says if any erroneous charge is made then you get your money back from your bank first and questions are asked later. Merchants are required to provide all customers who pay this way with certain information about the guarantee scheme (and everyone actually does).
That in turn sounds like an opportunity for abuse by customers but having personally run a business that accepts Direct Debits I can tell you that we have never seen a single abusive reversal of a Direct Debit payment. In contract we've had a few problems with legitimate charges to cards being reversed later and the whole system around chargebacks with credit cards seems to be unreliable for both merchants and cardholders.
"SEPA Lastschriftverfahren" is what it's called.
"Immediate refunds. You can get a full and immediate refund from your bank (also known as an “indemnity claim”) for any payment taken in error."
https://gocardless.com/guides/posts/dd-guarantee-in-plain-en...
You'll have to explain to the company that deducted the money why you reversed the charge though, and if it was legit after all you still need to pay them.
https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-direc...
No proof or even reason for this is required in the first 8 or so weeks since the charge (or more than a year if the debiting merchant does not have a "direct debit mandate", which essentially means some sort of evidence of the account holder agreeing to be debited).
According to stats I can find, the European central bank reported 1.03B Euros of fradulent transaction via cards back in 2019 (https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/cardfraud/html/ecb.cardfraudre...).
So the only way those fraudulent transactions won't hit your bank account is if your bank account is not directly tied to the card, which makes it a credit card by definition (because you are being given credit for purchases and not having to pay for it immediately).
So it seems like what the parent is saying is true outside the US as well?