Bank suspicious activity

lir7

Hello,
My elderly mum had a phone call yesterday telling her there was suspicious activity on her account.  She couldn't remember which bank, if any, was mentioned but thought Amazon was mentioned and two specific values.  She's obviously worried but I checked all bank accounts and changed her amazon password and all looks fine.  

My question is do banks still genuinely call customers about suspicious activity given all the warnings about scams?  They're very keen we can spot dodgy emails but one phone call has put the wind up my mum when I've finally managed to get her to understand she shouldn't give any details over the phone.
TIA

MeteredOut

This sounds very much like a scam. If she's still uncertain, get her to call her banks and they'll confirm they've not contacted her.

Banks will rarely call customers out of the blue.

born_again

lir7 said:

Hello,
My elderly mum had a phone call yesterday telling her there was suspicious activity on her account.  She couldn't remember which bank, if any, was mentioned but thought Amazon was mentioned and two specific values.  She's obviously worried but I checked all bank accounts and changed her amazon password and all looks fine.  

My question is do banks still genuinely call customers about suspicious activity given all the warnings about scams?  They're very keen we can spot dodgy emails but one phone call has put the wind up my mum when I've finally managed to get her to understand she shouldn't give any details over the phone.
TIA

Yes they do, some anyway.
But best advice is tell her to hang up (bank won't mind) & call back on a known number for the bank. Making sure if using a landline, that there is a dialing tone. Or even better a different phone.

p00hsticks

almost certainly a scam call - I've had similar with mention of Amazon payments. One major give away is that they they'll say they're from 'your bank'  rather than specifying a particular one, because they don't actually know who you bank with. 

Peter999_2

In 40 years of having bank accounts and being scammed before, I have never had a bank phone me for anything.   I'd be pretty confident it was a scam.

My parents are pretty good at dealing with scams etc. but I have sat next to my mother while she proceeds to give her details over the phone to strangers.  Something about a phone call and actually speaking to someone I guess.

MyRealNameToo

lir7 said:

Hello,
My elderly mum had a phone call yesterday telling her there was suspicious activity on her account.  She couldn't remember which bank, if any, was mentioned but thought Amazon was mentioned and two specific values.  She's obviously worried but I checked all bank accounts and changed her amazon password and all looks fine.  

My question is do banks still genuinely call customers about suspicious activity given all the warnings about scams?  They're very keen we can spot dodgy emails but one phone call has put the wind up my mum when I've finally managed to get her to understand she shouldn't give any details over the phone.
TIA

What did they ask? What did they instruct her to do?

Some banks call, mine tend to text rather than call but then for me they have a mobile number on file and may call if they only had a landline dunno. 

If they told her to go online and move her money to a "safe account" or give them a security code that they are sending her then it's a scam. If they just asked if you made a transfaction for £3 to Amazon just now and asked nothing more likely then it's likely a legitimate call. 

elsien

Yes, they do phone in some circumstances but it is normally a call telling you to phone the fraud department back.
as above, tell your mum not to give any information out over the phone in future and to contact the bank directly (Not from a number that they give her)  from a different phone, if possible, If she is at all worried.

pseudodox

I was called by my bank, which I did not answer as did not recognise the number displayed.  Then I got a text asking me to respond urgently.  I did not but checked online for a different bonafide number for my bank and called them.  They confirmed they had been trying to contact me and I done the right thing to be cautious.  But now I was to call their fraud department on a number they then texted to me.  Turned out someone had been trying to buy airline tickets with my credit card, which had never left my possession, so it was very strange. But the bank would not reveal how the card details had been obtained.  It was all dealt with very efficiently.  Card immediately cancelled after several security questions about my recent usage.  Bank said I had dealt with it all safely - and wished all customers were the same!

Enzo_L

lir7 said:

Hello,
My elderly mum had a phone call yesterday telling her there was suspicious activity on her account.  She couldn't remember which bank, if any, was mentioned but thought Amazon was mentioned and two specific values.  She's obviously worried but I checked all bank accounts and changed her amazon password and all looks fine.  

My question is do banks still genuinely call customers about suspicious activity given all the warnings about scams?  They're very keen we can spot dodgy emails but one phone call has put the wind up my mum when I've finally managed to get her to understand she shouldn't give any details over the phone.
TIA

Was the call about her "Visa account" which specified potentially fraudulent payments to Amazon and to somewhere else, and asking her to press 1 to authorise the transactions or press 2 to speak to someone?

I've had that three times this week. I didn't press anything and it cut off after about 20 seconds.

No one has an account with Visa.  

UKX69

MeteredOut said:

This sounds very much like a scam. If she's still uncertain, get her to call her banks and they'll confirm they've not contacted her.

Banks will rarely call customers out of the blue.

A number of years ago I transferred 8k to one savings account and £1 to another. Neither arrived by two days later. Then later on the third day, my bank phoned me to say there had been attempted fraudulent activity on online withdrawals and my account had been targeted. The bank stopped the transaction and returned the cash to my account. Phew!😅

Ergates

lir7 said:

Hello,
My elderly mum had a phone call yesterday telling her there was suspicious activity on her account.  She couldn't remember which bank, if any, was mentioned but thought Amazon was mentioned and two specific values.  She's obviously worried but I checked all bank accounts and changed her amazon password and all looks fine.  

My question is do banks still genuinely call customers about suspicious activity given all the warnings about scams?  They're very keen we can spot dodgy emails but one phone call has put the wind up my mum when I've finally managed to get her to understand she shouldn't give any details over the phone.
TIA

Short answer:   Yes.

My partner and I have both had calls from our banks asking about suspicious transactions.

Without knowing anything about what was said on the phone, I don't think anyone can say if it was a scam or not.