Anti-fraud education

brianposter

I have been having some difficulty discovering more about what has happened but it appears that the victim remains in contact with the fraudsters and trusts them more than she trusts her own bank branch. Anyone got any bright ideas as to how this might be used to investigate the case further.

Yorkie1

brianposter said:

I have been having some difficulty discovering more about what has happened but it appears that the victim remains in contact with the fraudsters and trusts them more than she trusts her own bank branch. Anyone got any bright ideas as to how this might be used to investigate the case further.

Perhaps ask the local PCSO / neighbourhood policing officer to come round for a chat? Not about investigating it but to emphasise what's going on?

Not suitable if someone is completely offline (i.e. doesn't get emails) but I also subscribe to the Which? Scam alert email service, which flags the most common scams (phone as well as online).

Section62

brianposter said:

Would it be unreasonable to expect that, if you had just lost the bank many thousands of pounds and there was a local branch readily available, you might be invited to a short interview with someone appropriately qualified ?

What is this "local branch" thing you mention?

In many areas they barely exist.  Inviting customers to attend an 'interview' could represent a somewhat onerous requirement... and I mean 'requirement' because some vulnerable customers might feel obliged to attend, even if the invite is optional.

If this 'service' is limited to people living within a certain distance of a branch then the bank will end up providing what amounts to a 2-tier service in respect of whatever the 'interview' was seeking to achieve.

brianposter

Section62 said:

brianposter said:

Would it be unreasonable to expect that, if you had just lost the bank many thousands of pounds and there was a local branch readily available, you might be invited to a short interview with someone appropriately qualified ?

What is this "local branch" thing you mention?

In many areas they barely exist.  Inviting customers to attend an 'interview' could represent a somewhat onerous requirement... and I mean 'requirement' because some vulnerable customers might feel obliged to attend, even if the invite is optional.

If this 'service' is limited to people living within a certain distance of a branch then the bank will end up providing what amounts to a 2-tier service in respect of whatever the 'interview' was seeking to achieve.

You really make it sound as if modern banks are afraid of doing anything competent because of the possible consequences.

masonic

brianposter said:

Section62 said:

brianposter said:

Would it be unreasonable to expect that, if you had just lost the bank many thousands of pounds and there was a local branch readily available, you might be invited to a short interview with someone appropriately qualified ?

What is this "local branch" thing you mention?

In many areas they barely exist.  Inviting customers to attend an 'interview' could represent a somewhat onerous requirement... and I mean 'requirement' because some vulnerable customers might feel obliged to attend, even if the invite is optional.

If this 'service' is limited to people living within a certain distance of a branch then the bank will end up providing what amounts to a 2-tier service in respect of whatever the 'interview' was seeking to achieve.

You really make it sound as if modern banks are afraid of doing anything competent because of the possible consequences.

Like most businesses, they will focus on the services that they have decided to offer and areas where they are competent. Running security awareness training courses is not for them, and probably best left to the professionals. It is likely that they outsource their internal staff training (or should if they want to keep abreast of the latest developments). It would be improper for a cashier, having attended a short online course to start running seminars. It would be like someone who has fallen victim to food poisoning expecting to be invited to a food hygiene course in their local Tesco, or someone who keeps missing their dental checkups expecting the practice to lay on a time management seminar.

brianposter

And yet I, presumably being rather more aged, would regard it as perfectly normal to be invited to an interview at the bank if something unusual happened.

masonic

brianposter said:

And yet I, presumably being rather more aged, would regard it as perfectly normal to be invited to an interview at the bank if something unusual happened.

I have no direct experience of it, but I have heard stories of bank branches and bank managers having a much more significant role in the olden days. That all seemed to disappear in the 1990s and early 2000s. Before then if you were a victim of fraud you'd likely be invited to an interview at the police station. Today you can report it to "Action Fraud" (soon to be renamed "Report Fraud" because it doesn't take any action) and it gets added to a long list for statistical purposes.

Regarding your question about what to do given the victim seems to have remained in contact with the scammer and trusts them, this is a challenging situation that is often seen from social engineering. Scammers can be extremely manipulative and convincing and it can take a lot to get through to them. Is there anyone she trusts sufficiently that she could sit down with them and go through everything together (with the hope that they can point to inconsistencies/red flags that might help her see this for what it is)?

Section62

brianposter said:

And yet I, presumably being rather more aged, would regard it as perfectly normal to be invited to an interview at the bank if something unusual happened.

The 'aged' people I know would be terrified if they got invited to an 'interview' at the bank.  Even if they were promised a cosy chat with tea and chocolate biscuits, the logistics of getting there would keep them awake at night.

I think the issue here might be a fairly wide variation in what people expect and what they enjoy.  How people react when scammed is also likely to vary considerably.

brianposter

People have already tried and presumably will eventually get through - the going through together is surprisingly difficult because the account of events mixes up bank and fraudsters. In the meantime there do appear to be things that might lead towards the fraudsters (they send letters etc.) and, although no-one appears to be interested, I would like to accumulate as much evidence as possible.

mta999

Anti fraud would go a long way if people :

didn't buy anything from Facebook - ever

didn't talk to strangers on the phone

didn't click on any email links

didn't allow any person to pay anything into their bank account