New scam or hoax?

mgfvvc

From Facebook

Be aware of this New Scam

Just something new to be aware off.....

Received new bank card yesterday from Santander

Which I thought a bit strange as there still 9 months on my current one.

It wasn't a contactless one either like my current card.

Had all the info on letter from Santander about how to activate it etc.

Well as it wasn't contactless its not much use to me so I went into bank today to ask them to change it.

They informed me that they hadn't sent out the card and good job I went in.

If I had activated it I would of lost all my money and savings.

Major fraud squad now involved.

People say to me I'm too suspicious of people and things.

Good job I am.

Bank now ordered me a new card and I have changed all my security details. Be careful

Copied and posted ...... look out for this new scam

This smells like a hoax to me.

Asking how activating it would lose all his money, the answer given is :

Most cards no longer require activation, the process they ask you to complete allows them access to your account.

I guess that means that the card came with a request to phone a number where they would ask for enough details to impersonate you.

It's almost plausible, but it still feels like a hoax. Does anyone disagree?

Hasbeen

Its from facebook? Must be true then 

AlFitch

Nothing yet on Snopes or the other hoax buster websites.
It therefore is a newbie.
I suspect it to be a scam.
Will keep an eye on it.
In the meantime, if you are also in receipt of such a card, let us know.

I will also as Santander direct, (although the eventual reply from them is always less than helpful...

AlFitch

Took a few minutes, but it IS a clickbait hoax

Not been around long enough to post a link so you'll have to copy and paste...

It starts wit an htttps.www

Then lythamstannes.news/news/local-young-lady-spots-tsb-scam-with-very-convincing-fake-card-and-letter-in-the-post/

AlFitch

Oops! too many 't's

CliveOfIndia

AlFitch said:

Nothing yet on Snopes or the other hoax buster websites.
It therefore is a newbie.

Hardly a "newbie" given that this post is over 2 years old.

WillPS

mgfvvc said:

They informed me that they hadn't sent out the card and good job I went in.

If I had activated it I would of lost all my money and savings.

Major fraud squad now involved.

People say to me I'm too suspicious of people and things.

Good job I am.

Bank now ordered me a new card and I have changed all my security details. Be careful

Copied and posted ...... look out for this new scam

This smells like a hoax to me.

Asking how activating it would lose all his money, the answer given is :

Most cards no longer require activation, the process they ask you to complete allows them access to your account.

I guess that means that the card came with a request to phone a number where they would ask for enough details to impersonate you.

It's almost plausible, but it still feels like a hoax. Does anyone disagree?

It's not plausible. Card manufacturing on a small scale costs loads, for starters. People often don't take this in to account but each card issued and mailed costs banks about £5 a piece, OK, some of that is for the chips etc which wouldn't need to do anything but still...

Scammers would need loads of capital and an incredibly high yield to make a scam like that viable; they'd have to be super targeted with it. Or send out *very* unconvincing cards (like the marketing materials that used to have a card credit card attached to them back in the day!).

It'd also be very traceable; normally scammers rely on local 'mules' to do their dirty work for them, often under the pretense of being someone's remote assistant or something. I can't see how that fits in to a situation where duff debit cards are being sent out.

grumbler

AlFitch said:

Took a few minutes, but it IS a clickbait hoax

Not been around long enough to post a link so you'll have to copy and paste...

It starts wit an htttps.www

Then lythamstannes.news/news/local-young-lady-spots-tsb-scam-with-very-convincing-fake-card-and-letter-in-the-post/

https://www.lythamstannes.news/news/local-young-lady-spots-tsb-scam-with-very-convincing-fake-card-and-letter-in-the-post/
 Makes absolutely no sense to me.

it has a new pin (which you shouldn’t get as your pin stays the same and then you can change it yourself).... If Alicia hadn’t recognised the scam and gone to put the card into the ATM, along with her pin number, she may have lost all of her money and given access to her account in an instant.

Is it just me? 

eskbanker

grumbler said:

AlFitch said:

Took a few minutes, but it IS a clickbait hoax

Not been around long enough to post a link so you'll have to copy and paste...

It starts wit an htttps.www

Then lythamstannes.news/news/local-young-lady-spots-tsb-scam-with-very-convincing-fake-card-and-letter-in-the-post/

https://www.lythamstannes.news/news/local-young-lady-spots-tsb-scam-with-very-convincing-fake-card-and-letter-in-the-post/
 Makes absolutely no sense to me.

it has a new pin (which you shouldn’t get as your pin stays the same and then you can change it yourself).... If Alicia hadn’t recognised the scam and gone to put the card into the ATM, along with her pin number, she may have lost all of her money and given access to her account in an instant.

Is it just me? 

Not just you, no - perhaps somebody who believes it could clearly explain exactly how this scam would actually work, but interesting to read in that piece (from back in 2020!) that the recipient of the letters and card appears to have concluded unilaterally that it was a scam without even discussing the matter with the bank ("she noticed several warning signs that proved her suspicions right")!

born_again

I only way I can see this working is if you have to activate card via a fake site, that is asking for full security details. So they can simply access acc online. As they already have the correct sort code & acc number.
So wrong details on card is simply a red herring.

I'm more inclined to think that someone was trying to either raise their profile, or looking for a payout. 

But a 2 year old thread resurrected????

Frankie56

I think it's been resurrected because it is going round on Facebook at the moment. A friend of mine has just shared it.