How can I be sure a call or text is from my bank? 6 January at 6:45PM edited 2 June at 4:17PM in Ask An Expert: Archive 4 replies 699 views

MSE_Laura_F

I'll kick things off with the first question.

Sadly we often hear about scammers who call or text people, pretending to be their bank. How can I make sure a call or text that looks like it's from my bank really is?

MACKEM99

MSE_Laura_F said:

I'll kick things off with the first question.

Sadly we often hear about scammers who call or text people, pretending to be their bank. How can I make sure a call or text that looks like it's from my bank really is?

You cant.  All you can do is contact the bank by a method you can trust

born_again

Best bet is to use known contact details, such as on the back of you card. Or a number that you have taken from banks website.

Which is a good thing to do. Especially the lost card number. Saves trying to find it while out & about when you have lost your card 👍

RobM99

I had "my bank" ring and ask my security questions which I deliberately answered wrongly. (My first pet wasn't really Oscar the Goldfish, it was...Ha - not telling!). The scammer said "Thanks, that's fine!"

But as said,1 ring them on a different phone if possible on a number you have found on their website. Call at a branch (not so easy these days I know).

Just an aside - do banks ever ring these days?

MSE_Katie

Transcript of the video above:

We often get the question, "How do I really know if it's my bank contacting me by text or by phone?" The simply answer is: you can't.

Scammers are so sophisticated: they can say lots of things to make you believe they are really from your bank; they can use details they find about you online to convince you they've got your records up in front of them; and they can even spoof the name of your bank in the sender of a text message.

My rule of thumb is: if you're not sure, hang up straight away. Politely say, "I'm going to hang up and call back on a number that I have, thank you very much." A real bank will never ever mind you doing that. You can simply call them and say, "I think I've been contacted by you - could you please confirm that and then put me back through if so?" I do that all the time, and I did it to a real bank once as well, and they didn't mind at all. But if they're trying to keep you on the phone, that's a sure sign that they're probably a scammer. No real bank will ever mind you checking for your own safety.