SCAM!! Over £8000 Taken from account

Sandtree

born_again said:

How many times do banks have to state WE NEVER ASK YOU TO MOVE MONEY TO A SAFE ACCOUNT....

I watched in realtime a colleague's (whos a senior manager in a financial services company) face drop as he realised he'd just transferred £10,000 into a fraudsters bank account after receiving a call with CallerID that came up as his bank telling him his account had been compromised and he needed to move the money into a safe account. They just caught him at the right/wrong time when he was in the middle of something else and he didnt think.

He did straight away call his bank and there were no major challenges and they said the money would be put back into is account by CoB and it was there about 20 minutes later (pre Covid)

Sandtree

mazzetti said:

I would put it stronger than that I think that CLI should be legally required to show the correct telephone number and that would stop pretty much this type of scam in its tracks

But what is the "correct" phone number? Gone are the days of fixed lines with set numbers.

Spoofing other peoples numbers already isnt allowable from what I understand but there are just many lax companies out there that allow you to self certify that its your own number. Our VOIP service has a number of different telephone numbers and we can select which shows for each extension, they do allow you to also have the CLI to show a number that you have elsewhere but you must send evidence that it is your number before they set it up... so I have my mobile number setup on it so that if abroad I can call from VOIP at no extra cost but the receiver still just sees my mobile.

I have seen text services however that just ask you "to confirm" the number you enter for the "from" is yours but they charge twice the unit price that a more respectable company that requires evidence of ownership... so clearly know what is happening but turn a blind eye whilst its financially beneficial

mazzetti

Yes I agree some companies or larger companies may need to show different phone numbers depending on whatever but that being said there's absolutely no way Mr Fred Bloggs should be allowed to call someone with the CLI showing Lloyds Bank Customer Services for example

eskbanker

mazzetti said:

Yes I agree some companies or larger companies may need to show different phone numbers depending on whatever but that being said there's absolutely no way Mr Fred Bloggs should be allowed to call someone with the CLI showing Lloyds Bank Customer Services for example

Mr Fred Bloggs isn't allowed to do that legally, but can't be prevented by technology from doing so, in much the same way that his car will be capable of exceeding 70mph, even though he's not allowed to do so on UK roads....

gsmh

I don't understand why people think banks would need them to transfer money to a 'safe' account. If a bank felt their money was not safe, can't people see that the bank would simply lock the account to ensure the money is safe? If 'moving' funds is necessary, the bank would do it. It's like when a bank thinks your credit card has been compromised, they simply cancel the card and send you a new one. The trouble on here is we're preaching to the converted.

gazza85

gsmh said:

I don't understand why people think banks would need them to transfer money to a 'safe' account. If a bank felt their money was not safe, can't people see that the bank would simply lock the account to ensure the money is safe? If 'moving' funds is necessary, the bank would do it. It's like when a bank thinks your credit card has been compromised, they simply cancel the card and send you a new one. The trouble on here is we're preaching to the converted.

They are highly skilled at Inducing fear and panic.. when I arrived home she was in a state, crying and not making any sense about what had happened and couldnt explain the sequence of events. She had been made to beilieve everything was going to be sorted out and her money should now be safe. The next day she found out this was far from true.

mazzetti

Thanks for explaining that it cannot be done by technology but I am a bit of a loss as to understand why

for example if I have a landline or a mobile phone there is a hard coded number in that or at least there is an unchanged number with that so why can I call from my landline and have a different number displayed at the recepient if I wanted to

It may be the way the technology works today but I would have thought the technology could be changed. Certainly the service provider knows my 'real' number because that's how I get billed so why can't the service provider only display the real number and disallow any changes

mazzetti

Looks like Ofcom have a scheme whereby numbers are marked 'do not originate' which means they can never be spoofed so for example a customer services number which is never dialled out from is marked 'do not originate' and that can never be spoofed by someone else

eskbanker

mazzetti said:

Thanks for explaining that it cannot be done by technology but I am a bit of a loss as to understand why

for example if I have a landline or a mobile phone there is a hard coded number in that or at least there is an unchanged number with that so why can I call from my landline and have a different number displayed at the recepient if I wanted to

It may be the way the technology works today but I would have thought the technology could be changed. Certainly the service provider knows my 'real' number because that's how I get billed so why can't the service provider only display the real number and disallow any changes

I'm no expert but understand it to relate to international telephony protocols and standards, which essentially allow/require a CLI to be passed through from initiator to recipient but can't mandate that this is only set to the value corresponding to the 'real' number used for inbound traffic to the caller - as with earlier examples there are valid reasons for this to be set up in this way so it's not as simple as switching it off just because it can be abused.  Email or IP address spoofing is similar....

born_again

If she made the call from her mobile to the number on the back of the card, that will have been the bank. As a mobile network is not run in the same way as a landline. So the number you dial is the number call goes too.
On a mobile, when either party ends the call that is it. It's cut off. Unlike a landline which can be held open by the caller, not ending the call.

To name but 3 banks that have the "DO NOT TRANSFER" advice.
Santander
Never transfer money out of your account if asked to do so for ‘security reasons’ We’ll never ask you to do this. If you’re asked to transfer money out of your account for security reasons, end the call immediately and call us.
Lloyds

• A need to transfer money - Scam calls can try to get you to transfer money for security purposes or to a safe/secure/holding account. Do not do this. Lloyds Bank would never ask you to move money to a ‘safe’ account.

Halifax

• A need to transfer money - Scam calls can try to get you to transfer money for security purposes or to a safe/secure/holding account. Do not do this.  Halifax would never ask you to move money to a ‘safe’ account.