Credit card scammers - warning!

Haras

Perhaps no sensible person on here would ever fall for this scam, but I did, so I'm going to share what happened in case it helps someone.

I could never understand how people could be caught out by dodgy phone calls and give away banking details over the phone, so I've always assumed something is a scam unless there is very good proof to the contrary. I thought they'd never catch me.

This morning when I was out I had a phone call claiming to be from my credit card company, wanting to check a suspicious transaction on my account for around £530. I was immediately on my guard, waiting for the person to ask me for card details or ask me to click on a link or something, at which point I would know it was a scam.

This man spoke for over 10 minutes, probably saying all the things that the credit card company would say, telling me that the transaction had now been cancelled, that a new card would be in the post in the next 3 to 5 days, etc, etc. Not once did he ask me for any confidential information. He had obviously got hold of a lot of my personal details as he knew my name, address and phone number. We reached the end of the phone call, I thanked him and rang off.

That's the point at which I began to relax and think it must have been genuine. I've had such calls before from the credit card company which have been the real thing. Because he hadn't asked me for any sensitive information I had decided he wasn't a scammer.

A couple of minutes later there came the second phone call. He was sorry to call again but he had forgotten to give me the case reference number. He would text it now to this phone number if that was convenient. Sure enough, a couple of seconds later a text message came through from my credit card company with a reference number. He wanted to check that I had the correct number and like an idiot I read it back to him.

How stupid, in hindsight, but I was halfway across a busy carpark, I couldn't hear him very well, the sun was shining on the screen, the text message really did come from the credit card company, and I'd already decided he was genuine and switched off my suspicions. It was only when I got home a short while later that I had a closer look at the text and it didn't seem to be anything to do with a case reference number. In fact, it was the passcode authorising the payment, but it took me a while to work out what had happened. It was only when I phoned the credit card company to check the earlier call that I began to piece together the whole picture. Fortunately they sorted it out, cancelled the transaction and stopped my card. At least, I hope they have, and I wasn't somehow still connected to the scammers' phoneline!

So, watch out for the second phone call!! He also had the cheek to call me later, just after I'd come off the phone to the credit card company, to tell me that there had been another attempted transaction. I let him talk on for a while (that's two minutes less that he'd be scamming someone else) then when he told me not to worry about the first transaction as it had been cancelled I told him I knew it had been cancelled as I'd phoned the credit card company. He immediately put the phone down. In future I'll do what I've always done in the past and should have done today, and phone the card company directly.

powerspowers

Well done for catching it in time. 

Taking advantage of someone busy and distracted is a classic tactic of a scammer, as is building up trust. 

Thanks for sharing, a lot of people are very embarrassed to be scammed and I think it’s good to share that they can happen to even the more savvy minded! Be aware that you may get more calls as details are often passed on 

Emmia

I had two attempted scam calls in quick succession a couple of weeks ago. The giveaway was that they mentioned the email address they had which is definitely not the one I use for online banking... I didn't give them any information - told them I would call back in the number on my card and ended the call.  They asked repeatedly for my date of birth, for "security" claiming it's public information - but it's not, really. Yes, my birth is registered but I expect it's the information they'd need for a fraudulent application.

I popped into the banking app and immediately froze the card affected - within a minute of doing that I had another call, from the scammers to which I responded that I was not giving any information and I had no idea who they were (private number called both times). 

After a chat with the bank in the app, they confirmed their fraud department hadn't called - and said a new card would be sent.

A few days later I had another call - again insistently asking for my DOB, for "security" I told the person they were clearly a scammer and to f**k off.

Interestingly my replacement card hasn't arrived - it's appeared in the app, but I've frozen it there, and after raising it again with the bank chat function a new card is being sent to a branch and I need ID to collect it. I'm wondering if the card was intercepted, or if it's a coincidence. Thankfully it's not my main account.

born_again

Haras said:

Perhaps no sensible person on here would ever fall for this scam, but I did, so I'm going to share what happened in case it helps someone.

I could never understand how people could be caught out by dodgy phone calls and give away banking details over the phone, so I've always assumed something is a scam unless there is very good proof to the contrary. I thought they'd never catch me.

This morning when I was out I had a phone call claiming to be from my credit card company, wanting to check a suspicious transaction on my account for around £530. I was immediately on my guard, waiting for the person to ask me for card details or ask me to click on a link or something, at which point I would know it was a scam.

This man spoke for over 10 minutes, probably saying all the things that the credit card company would say, telling me that the transaction had now been cancelled, that a new card would be in the post in the next 3 to 5 days, etc, etc. Not once did he ask me for any confidential information. He had obviously got hold of a lot of my personal details as he knew my name, address and phone number. We reached the end of the phone call, I thanked him and rang off.

That's the point at which I began to relax and think it must have been genuine. I've had such calls before from the credit card company which have been the real thing. Because he hadn't asked me for any sensitive information I had decided he wasn't a scammer.

A couple of minutes later there came the second phone call. He was sorry to call again but he had forgotten to give me the case reference number. He would text it now to this phone number if that was convenient. Sure enough, a couple of seconds later a text message came through from my credit card company with a reference number. He wanted to check that I had the correct number and like an idiot I read it back to him.

How stupid, in hindsight, but I was halfway across a busy carpark, I couldn't hear him very well, the sun was shining on the screen, the text message really did come from the credit card company, and I'd already decided he was genuine and switched off my suspicions. It was only when I got home a short while later that I had a closer look at the text and it didn't seem to be anything to do with a case reference number. In fact, it was the passcode authorising the payment, but it took me a while to work out what had happened. It was only when I phoned the credit card company to check the earlier call that I began to piece together the whole picture. Fortunately they sorted it out, cancelled the transaction and stopped my card. At least, I hope they have, and I wasn't somehow still connected to the scammers' phoneline!

So, watch out for the second phone call!! He also had the cheek to call me later, just after I'd come off the phone to the credit card company, to tell me that there had been another attempted transaction. I let him talk on for a while (that's two minutes less that he'd be scamming someone else) then when he told me not to worry about the first transaction as it had been cancelled I told him I knew it had been cancelled as I'd phoned the credit card company. He immediately put the phone down. In future I'll do what I've always done in the past and should have done today, and phone the card company directly.

How did they take you through security?

Nasqueron

Someone calls "from" your bank, say thanks, you'll call them back, hang up.

Don't engage with them, end of story

flaneurs_lobster

born_again said:

How did they take you through security?

That's rather the point, there's no intention of getting you to give answers to anything, you're not asked for secret stuff. It's purely a set-up for the authorisation text. 

DullGreyGuy

Haras said:

Perhaps no sensible person on here would ever fall for this scam, but I did, so I'm going to share what happened in case it helps someone.

I could never understand how people could be caught out by dodgy phone calls and give away banking details over the phone, so I've always assumed something is a scam unless there is very good proof to the contrary. I thought they'd never catch me.

These people are opportunistic, some people are more susceptible to scams than others but would say absolutely no one is totally immune if they just happen to catch you at a really bad time.

Was sat in the offices of a bank with a chap who'd worked in financial services for 20 years. He was very stressed with work that was going a bit wrong and got a call where the callerID showed up as his banks telephone number with the usual junk about transfer your money to a "safe account" as someone is trying to hack your account. He fell for it, and he realised just after he'd sent the money, could see his face collapse. 

He was shocked that he'd fallen for it but being stressed out, trying to multitask the scammers got lucky. Thankfully for him his bank immediately refunded the £20k he'd transferred. 

born_again

flaneurs_lobster said:

born_again said:

How did they take you through security?

That's rather the point, there's no intention of getting you to give answers to anything, you're not asked for secret stuff. It's purely a set-up for the authorisation text. 

So there is your warning. 
No security questions is your que to hang up & block the caller.

grumpy_codger

born_again said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

born_again said:

How did they take you through security?

That's rather the point, there's no intention of getting you to give answers to anything, you're not asked for secret stuff. It's purely a set-up for the authorisation text. 

So there is your warning. 
No security questions is your que to hang up & block the caller.

I don't see how this can be a que. 
Firstly, they are very easy to mimick if needed. Secondly, security questions are mostly needed when YOU call them. There is no much point in asking security questions when asking a customer about some particular CC transaction. If THEY call me I'd be reluctant to answer secury questions and would rather ask them to prove that they are who they say they are.
And, IIRC, some banks do this even via SMS or computer-generated calls.

born_again

grumpy_codger said:

born_again said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

born_again said:

How did they take you through security?

That's rather the point, there's no intention of getting you to give answers to anything, you're not asked for secret stuff. It's purely a set-up for the authorisation text. 

So there is your warning. 
No security questions is your que to hang up & block the caller.

I don't see how this can be a que. 
Firstly, they are very easy to mimick if needed. Secondly, security questions are mostly needed when YOU call them. There is no much point in asking security questions when asking a customer about some particular CC transaction. If THEY call me I'd be reluctant to answer secury questions and would rather ask them to prove that they are who they say they are.
And, IIRC, some banks do this even via SMS or computer-generated calls.

There will always be security questions, when calling a customer. Might not be the same as when you call in. 

If there is not security details checked, how would bank know they are talking to their customer  🤷‍♀️

It's amazing how many customers never question when being called. Get the odd one asking to prove who you are, but can't do that as you do not know if you are talking to customer. So they have to ring back in.

DullGreyGuy

born_again said:

No security questions is your que to hang up & block the caller.

The problem is if they are spoofing your banks callerID, as a reasonable proportion do, then "blocking the caller" will block your bank from calling too.