BBC programme today on an extreme case of Courier Fraud

robatwork

Moneybox had a recent episode on small business that had "lost out" to scammers - especially from phishing. The only problem with it was they couldn't actually find anyone who had lost money - all their interviewees had been refunded.

They didn't even manage to explain the mechanisms of how they had been suckered in, so I am guessing it's because the method made the employee look stupid. The programme was a waste of airtime. Does anyone fall for that:

Dear Sam

I need a bill paying right now, please transfer £4,176 to 
I M Stranger
40-21-89
09106112

Thanks Sam!

Wendy


I get these all the time on my work email where "Sam" and "Wendy" are the real names of the accountant and MD. Only a moron would fall for them though, and "Sam" isn't.

Murmansk

OP here

I was surprised that the couple in question were said to be You and Yours listeners, you'd have thought they'd have heard quite a lot of items on such scams or similar on the programme over the period over which the scam was taking place.

The man said the key thing was when the scammer, at the start, told them to ring 999. It would seem the scammers kept the line open and played a dial tone, then a ringtone and someone answered pretending to be the 999 operator.

eskbanker

Murmansk said:

The man said the key thing was when the scammer, at the start, told them to ring 999. It would seem the scammers kept the line open and played a dial tone, then a ringtone and someone answered pretending to be the 999 operator.

Not the most sophisticated of techniques really, but obviously enough to fool those who don't realise that hanging up after receiving a call on a landline doesn't terminate it, as this has to be done by the caller....

grumbler

eskbanker said:

Murmansk said:

The man said the key thing was when the scammer, at the start, told them to ring 999. It would seem the scammers kept the line open and played a dial tone, then a ringtone and someone answered pretending to be the 999 operator.

...enough to fool those who don't realise that hanging up after receiving a call on a landline doesn't terminate it, as this has to be done by the caller....

If this is still really the case, I don't understand why in the 21st century, when everything is computerised, telephone companies don't change this nonsense and the authorities don't force them to do this. And what does this statement mean in the programme - "That was stopped by the telephone companies who cut that gap" [4:50]?

Daliah

This entire story sounds so far fetched that I wouldn't be surprised if the Police / the NCA investigated the couple on suspicion of collusion with the fraudsters.

Bigwheels1111

I feel sorry for the  people this happened too, but who in their right mind trusts an unsolicited call out of the blue.
Every call I get on my landline or mobile is a scammer. Almost every call.
Ive had 6 calls in the last 2 week that I did not know the number etc.
One was a business arranging delivery.
The other 5 were scammers.
A Sky box scam, 2 bank scams, washing machine warranty and Amazon payment fraud.

Its making it hard for people to fund new and pay large bills etc, due to fraud checks.
I felt like I was a criminal trying to fund my Chase bank account.
Then 2 fraud checks on payments where I had to answer the same question’s again.

The simple answer is trust nobody, do your own due diligence.
Get the bank or company name and call direct on a number you have researched yourself.

phillw

grumbler said:

It's really boring to listen all this and hard to believe that educated people in their right mind can fall for that.

Everyone is an idiot about something at some point in their life. It's normally the people who think that education has anything to do with it, that fall the hardest.

It makes you wonder quite why we reward seemingly intelligent people, just so they can get conned out of it.

born_again

The usual excuse is "I was busy, in a hurry" Despite actually knowing about these scams. 

I once remember talking to a lady in her 90's who had one of these calls to collect her card, due to fraud. She rang the police & got someone to come out & then rang us. Police actually picked up a taxi driver who picked up the card, who of course knew nothing of what he was doing...

Actually spoken a few police who have been caught out as well. 

Daliah

born_again said:

The usual excuse is "I was busy, in a hurry" 

The couple in this case can't claim they were busy and/or in a hurry for many months. The more I think about, the more I am tempted to think they were actually part of the scam. 

phillw

robatwork said:

I get these all the time on my work email where "Sam" and "Wendy" are the real names of the accountant and MD. Only a moron would fall for them though, and "Sam" isn't.

I haven't been targeted, but from cases I've heard about they hack into an email system and look at what kinds of emails are being sent out.

Either you have lower skilled scammers, or "Sam" and "Wendy" are in fact sending those emails to each other.

With number spoofing and the quality of AI voice synthesis, you can't even trust a phone call. We are kinda at the point where even a skype/zoom call could be used.

Let's hope the Mission Impossible masks don't ever become reality.