Beware of the scammers

Have you ever been scammed?  Having worked for the Northern Bank in my early career, I naively thought that I would be able to spot a scammer easily and wouldn’t be sucked in by their sneaky ploys.  But I was totally wrong and last week, I became another victim of a very sophisticated team of scammers.

How did it all start?

It all started innocently enough.  I received an email from Boots saying I had been selected to fill in a survey and in return I would receive a prize.  As a former Chartered Marketer, I’m always quite keen to complete surveys as I appreciate how difficult it can be to get reliable information about customer preferences.  So I clicked on the link which brought me to a very straightforward survey which I completed in a few minutes.  At the end, I was invited to choose a prize and I selected some Boots No 7 skincare products worth £85.  Happy days I thought but the only hitch was that I had to pay for postage of £2.95 and there was no option to collect my prize at a local Boots store.  I therefore entered my bank card details to pay for the postage and felt very pleased that I would receive some lovely skincare products at a bargain price.  Of course, it was too good to be true!

The first phone call

The next afternoon I got a phone call from an undisclosed number.  It was Richard from Bank A saying there were some suspicious transactions using my card.  The three transactions were in stores in the Bristol area and amounted to £750.  I was horrified and explained that I lived in Northern Ireland which was nowhere near to Bristol.  Richard was very understanding and explained that the Bank would be able to stop these transactions so I wouldn’t lose any money.  I thanked him profusely and he explained that fraudsters were very clever in finding intriguing ways to access money from unsuspecting customers.  I then remembered the Boots survey and asked the very charming Richard if this could have been the cause.  He said it probably was but not to worry as he had now placed a stop on my card and he would be sending me a text message with details of the three transactions.

A few seconds later, a text message duly arrived from Bank A advising me that I would get another text from a different number with details of the suspicious transactions.  Richard then put me on hold as I waited for the text.  After a few minutes, it hadn’t arrived and Richard apologised profusely stating that the system was running slowly today.  We waited another few minutes and still no text from Bank A so Richard said he would call me back in 20 minutes when the text should have shown up.

Fraudulent transaction

After Richard terminated the call, I checked my bank account via my app to see what was happening.  Lo and behold, there was a suspicious transaction but not any of the ones which Richard had discussed.  This one was for £200, was from Lifestyle Gift Cards and I hadn’t made it! 

After a short wait, Richard called me back and I told him about the £200 transaction.  He explained that sometimes an extra fraudulent transaction could slip through but not to worry as he would sort it out and I would be refunded.  He then asked me if the text message had arrived.  I replied no and he said that it was very slow today.  We waited for a little while longer and then Richard suggested that we could try another way but he would need my Customer ID which I use for internet banking.  I wouldn’t give him this number as in the back of mind, I was aware that this was a number which shouldn’t be shared with anyone.

Super helpful Richard

There was still no sign of the elusive text message from Bank A so Richard turned his attention to my other banking relationships.  He volunteered to tell my other banks that I had been the subject of fraud with Bank A.  I thanked him for doing this and told him that I had accounts with Banks B, C and D.  He suggested that I should transfer the balances from Bank A to Bank C to ensure that my money was safe.  He said he could help me with this but I said I could do it myself.  The call then ended with the ever-courteous Richard thanking me for my time.

Another caller

No sooner had I put my phone down that it rang again.  The number was again withheld.  This time it was Mason from Bank B.  She started by stating that she understood that I had fraudulent transactions on my Bank A account.  I thought that this was very quick for Bank B to be calling me as Richard had only notified them a few minutes ago.  She then said that the next step was for her to complete some documentation about my account.  I said that was fine and the form filling started.  She appeared to have some of my details but she didn’t seem to have my 16 digit card number as she asked me for it three times.  I declined each time and I began to think that something wasn’t quite right.  I therefore decided to end the call and ring Bank B myself using the telephone number on the back of my card.

I’d been scammed!

Within a few minutes, I discovered that Mason didn’t work for Bank B and was in fact a scammer!  No transactions had taken place using Bank B card so all was well.  But was Richard a genuine employee of Bank A?  So my next call was to Bank A and I discovered that there had been no fraudulent transactions in the Bristol area but that the £200 transaction with Lifestyle Gift Cards had in fact taken place.  Immediately my card was stopped so that no further transactions could take place.  The following day, the £200 was refunded to my account so I wasn’t out of pocket.

What’s the moral of my story?

1. If something seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true even if you do think you are using a genuine website.
2. Before clicking on a link on an email, check that the person’s email address is from the company you think it is.  Once I checked the sender of the Boots email, I quickly realised that it was a dodgy address.
3. Never share your internet banking Customer ID number with anyone.
4. Don’t be fooled by charming strangers who call you “out of the blue”.  Richard had an accent like Prince William and told me he worked in London’s Canary Wharf!
5. If you aren’t sure of a caller’s identity, ring the bank yourself using the number on your card.  Better to be safe than sorry.

I certainly felt very embarrassed and humiliated by this experience and that I had been taken in by the scammers like this.  Hopefully it has never happened to you and doesn’t happen to you in the future but feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

Lynda