Victim of a money transfer scam? You now have new rights with most banks - MSE News

Eco_Miser

theoldmiser said:

 

Secondly, why haven't all banks sent out leaflets to all of their customers which say very clearly "We will never call you and ask for ANY of your personal information, not your password, and not your 'app code'", and we will never ask you to send any money to a 'different account', claiming that your account has been compromised, etc.etc.

Well, one reason would be that they do ask you for personal information when they call, before providing any information showing that they are not scammers.

soulsaver

theoldmiser said:

What amazes me about Push Payment Fraud is that every time I read a news article about this crime, it NEVER says that the police have arrested the perpetrator or even KNOW who the perpetrator is. So somehow people can open bank accounts without proper checks being done on who they are, and then move large amounts of money which has only just gone into those accounts into other accounts (no doubt abroad), and yet nobody seems to know who these people are, and their (U.K.) bank doesn't notice something unusual about them receiving a large sum of money from a private individual and then immediately sending it to a non-U.K. bank.

It isn't that simple: The accounts (can) start life legit. but end up in scammers' hands.

[Deleted User]

The time old adage applies in many of these cases -  'a fool and his money are soon parted' but now the fool will get a free ride.

I've noticed that many of these individuals seem to part with large sums with only very rudimentary social engineering.

[Deleted User]

theoldmiser said:

What amazes me about Push Payment Fraud is that every time I read a news article about this crime, it NEVER says that the police have arrested the perpetrator or even KNOW who the perpetrator is. So somehow people can open bank accounts without proper checks being done on who they are, and then move large amounts of money which has only just gone into those accounts into other accounts (no doubt abroad), and yet nobody seems to know who these people are, and their (U.K.) bank doesn't notice something unusual about them receiving a large sum of money from a private individual and then immediately sending it to a non-U.K. bank.

Secondly, why haven't all banks sent out leaflets to all of their customers which say very clearly "We will never call you and ask for ANY of your personal information, not your password, and not your 'app code'", and we will never ask you to send any money to a 'different account', claiming that your account has been compromised, etc.etc. If you read the various reports of this crime in the press, you are almost always left without the most important information - i.e .what exact information the perpetrator asked the victim for, which the victim shouldn't have given. It's always glossed over in news reports as if it isn't important, when in fact it's the most important part of the story!

Thirdly, it's quite obvious to me that most, if not all, of the perpetrators of these crimes either work for a bank or are working WITH somebody who works for a bank, who has access to people's accounts, and can therefore sound genuine on the phone by telling their victim about various real payments that have gone out or into their accounts. I presume many people who work for banks have been working from home, with access to customers' accounts through their home computers, so it's much easier for them to commit this sort of crime, as opposed to when they are working in a call centre with colleagues all around them.

The receiving account is 99% compromised or some idiot agreeing to act as a money mule without understanding the consequences, no scammer worth their salt would use their own account to receive it directly.

Secondly - they do, every bank tells you repeatedly on any money transfer to make sure you are paying it to a legitimate source. They re-iterate constantly that they will never ask you to move your money, it's on apps, online banking etc. Counter staff are training to look out for the classic scenario of some old dear trying to send cash to a fraudster. It happens because people ignore the advice.

It's blatantly obvious what information is asked for. If someone calls me and says it's my bank and there is a problem, even if they somehow know who I bank with, I would simply end the call by saying I will call them back. Mobile phones don't have the old landline issue of someone hanging onto the line and you not realising you are still speaking to the scammer.

Thirdly - utter rot, they are scammers using stolen accounts and rely on naive people, particularly the elderly who often (but not all!) grew up being told to trust the bank and aren't up to date with modern tech. Same people who get scammed for roofing or driveway grifts etc. It can just as easily be people using computer programs to record your keystrokes and steal the account details that way - hence why they need you to give them the number from your token or card reader - preventative measures that help stop the theft so long as people don't go along with it!