Banking Scam - please read and be aware
This all started when my husband renewed his O2 contract 3 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago he receives a text message saying that his monthly payment had been denied. He checked our bank account online and realised that the payment was not due. However he took the opportunity to pay his credit card. This did go through.Something troubled him so he contacted O2 via email (the only way) forwarded the text message and asking them to notify him immediately. He sends an email to Lloyd’s asking them to flag the account for possible fraud. Nothing heard.A few days later his mobile rings at 10.20 pm and I asked who it was, we didn’t recognise the country code so the call was not answered. The only people to ring us at that time would have been my mother’s nursing home. It was not. I checked back on ‘recent calls’ and the country code revealed it was Bukino Faso.Checked online banking daily - nothing untoward.Then yesterday evening came a call from Lloyd’s Bank saying they had noticed unusual activity on our bank account and he was in the fraud dept. To avoid being trolled the person was neither English or African accent but was well spoken and knowledgeable about banking procedures and plausible. He took my husband through his recent purchases and there were 2 for electronic equipment, these did not show on the credit card account when checked while my husband was talking to him. My husband, being careful, asked the person on the phone for the last 4 numbers on the card used and the security number - gave both of these correctly. He also said my husband could ring off and call the number on his card to reassure himself that the person was genuine.Told his credit card had been cancelledThis goes on, he needs certain details which were given and husband told his credit card was cancelled and a new one would be sent within a few days.When he came off the phone my husband said he felt unsure that the caller was bona fide.This morning a text message arrives asking my husband to call the Bank. He looks up a different number, calls on a different phone and is put through to the fraud dept.Everything up to this point has been a fraud. The Bank were unaware of the request to flag up the account but the fraudsters had then tried to request £1,300 cash transfer and failed the security checks so they immediately sent a message asking my husband to call them.Fortunately we have not lost any money but we are shocked at the lengths the fraudsters were using to access this account. The identification procedures used were identical by both the fraudster and the genuine fraud dept of the Bank which left us wondering if it was a former bank employee or an inside job as happened with my old mother in law 5 years ago.The advice we have been given.The Bank will NEVER call an account holder. They will notify you that they wish to speak to you.That even when you are told you can ring off and call them back on the number on your card, they will have diverted your phone and the number that shows up will be the one you dialled. Do not use the same phone. Use a different phone if you can or email. Don’t use your phone to text either.The bank has advised that we will continue to receive calls and messages under different pretexts using different people, different but genuine numbers, the last one was an 0800 number which they had ‘kidnapped’.We were told that there has been a huge increase in frauds and scams since so many people are working from home and have registered for internet banking and a big increase in the use of credit and debit cards.We were also told to let the bank know if you are at all suspicious.We feel we have been very lucky this time but others have not been so fortunate. Don’t be afraid to disconnect a call while you use another phone to check that the person is genuine. Your bank will not be cross or irritated with you for being careful.Stay safe and be careful.
Elizabeth Ross ● 2393d6 Comments