Telephone fraud

[tut]

It was the main subject on 5Live today, and has increased 300% in the past year. I really sympathise when the OAP's etc who have probably not even got a computer never mind IT knowledge, are conned.

However I am getting to the stage where I think it serves you right for many of the others. Two women were interviewed today that had lost £180K between them, one owned four businesses and the other two. Intelligent, articulate people who should have been aware of the scam as it has been covered enough. However one closed down her account and transferred it to a new one because she was told hers had been hacked. With £100K in the account. The Bank quite rightly would not pay out, she took it to the Ombudsmen who turned it down, as did the Court when she appealed against that. She wants the rest of the customers to pay out for her own stupidity.

The other one passed over her Pin number, then handed over her cards to a Courier who appeared shortly after at the door. You can guess his Nationality, the same as the one who made the telephone call.

It may seem harsh, but they brought it on themselves and are paying the price.

DO NOT engage in conversation with them, just hang up. The Banks and CC companies are shouting it out from the rooftops, we will NOT ask you for the PIN or Password to your Account.

tut

[pete]

There is an element of that although we have been phoned by the banks many many times asking us for personal details and asking to go through identity check so they can talk to us about something or another.

The banks are hardly blameless.

[tut]

They ask security questions to check who they are talking to, but never ask for your account PIN or Password. When you are sent a CC it comes in a separate envelope to your PIN, and it is printed in RED that you should never reveal your PIN to anybody.

I can not believe that anybody on the Forum would give those details to a blind phone call, regardless of whether it was a Nigerian/Pakistani/English accent, any more than they would give their details to the "Microsoft Security Team" of their computer because they have to fix a fault that they have been made aware of.

More and more it seems that people are not expected to take responsibility for their actions, whether it is bringing up their children, the teachers are to blame, being obese, the fast food manufacturers are to blame, lung cancer, the cigarette companies are to blame, etc, etc.

Will power seems to be a thing of the past, much easier to blame it all on the Government.

tut

[robin]

I think the banks need to look at putting in some safe guards that make it impossible to dump all your money in this way. I suspect that it should be pretty simple to spot the pattern of access and block it at least until some completely independent path is used to verify your intentions. Sure that will be a PITA for those that genuinely want to dump 100K into some random bank account, but for most people that will be nothing more than a nuisance.

Cheers,
Robin

[j2 lot]

I had staff going through information security training today and was frankly astounded at the lack of awareness of scams and basic security knowledge from some of the less pc literate staff ( being kind with my description here ) Needless to say I have some work to do in bringing them up to speed - I'm amazed that they still have money in their bank accounts.
One of the more savvy staff did a bit of digging when he started getting hounded by loan offer messages and phone calls. Turns out someone either by accident or scam had used his mobile number in a payday loan application - he now gets 20- 30 + texts a day - every single day and night offering loans. He has run out of available call bar options and is now going to ditch the number he has had for many years as it's the only way to escape the messages and calls

[tut]

It seems unbelievable that a Bank would just accept instructions to clear an account of £100K and pay it into a new one that had no connection with the Account holder. Surely they would check with the holder first to see that it was a genuine transaction?

We are not talking of millionaires playing around with money, but of a small business account that should have rung up warning signs. I followed this through and the Bank offered £500 in compensation which the customer refused and accepted the loss, then six months later they paid the whole amount back into her account.

tut

[pete]

They ask security questions to check who they are talking to, but never ask for your account PIN or Password. When you are sent a CC it comes in a separate envelope to your PIN, and it is printed in RED that you should never reveal your PIN to anybody.

I can not believe that anybody on the Forum would give those details to a blind phone call, regardless of whether it was a Nigerian/Pakistani/English accent, any more than they would give their details to the "Microsoft Security Team" of their computer because they have to fix a fault that they have been made aware of.

More and more it seems that people are not expected to take responsibility for their actions, whether it is bringing up their children, the teachers are to blame, being obese, the fast food manufacturers are to blame, lung cancer, the cigarette companies are to blame, etc, etc.

Will power seems to be a thing of the past, much easier to blame it all on the Government.

tut

Dad outfoxed a phishing call last week (see posts passim) but the month before admitted that his lost wallet contained not only his cards but all hi PIN numbers post-it noted to their reverse.

Turns out he kept forgetting them...

[tut]

I only have a Bank card and a CC so I just use my birth year 1940 as my PIN, which I can not forget.

tut

[pete]

[quote="j2 lot"]I had staff going through information security training today and was frankly astounded at the lack of awareness of scams and basic security knowledge from some of the less pc literate staff ( being kind with my description here ) Needless to say I have some work to do in bringing them up to speed - I'm amazed that they still have money in their bank accounts.
[/]

You may be able to help me actually. I'm doing some work at the moment for a bank and need touch with some less tech savvy folk.

Would you be able to get them to complete my survey?

It's only a 5 minute job and just requires their basic bank info (no PIN obviously!) and then there's just a few questions (First pet, mother's maiden name etc - nothing taxing).

I'll cut you in obviously as a consultant.

50% of the take?

Fee. Sorry, not take. Fee we'll get from the made up bank.

Real bank. Not made up. Hardly at all.

[flyingscot68]

There is an element of that although we have been phoned by the banks many many times asking us for personal details and asking to go through identity check so they can talk to us about something or another.

I always refuse and tell them I'll call them back on the number on my bank cards.
I point blank refuse to give any details to anyone that phones me as I have no idea who they really are.
It's just down to common sense really.


Sent from somewhere using something

[j2 lot]

Already on it Pete, when I said I had some work to do ,,,,,,,, cough

[GBOBM]

I've said for a long time that the banks should have a secret word/password that they give to you to confirm their identity. With all the technical security getting more sophisticated, it's a lot easier to just ask a person for their details.
I'm sure if you asked, they would stick it in the customer notes.

[Scotty C]

I had to transfer money yesterday to buy a new car. im limited to £15k online and even when I did I had to call to clarify it was me and I was not asked to do this transfer. the guy then did transferred the additional money I needed via there phone banking. I must admit I got asked a load of questions and far more security type questions.

[tut]

"Worryingly FFA UK found 10% of people surveyed would hand over cash to a courier, surrender their card or move money into another account if requested to do so by someone purporting to be from their bank.

Even though a bank would never request these actions, the FFA estimates 4.9 million bank customers nationwide fall into the trap."

Enough said. I suppose we should be grateful that there are them and us.

tut

[robin]

There is an element of that although we have been phoned by the banks many many times asking us for personal details and asking to go through identity check so they can talk to us about something or another.

I always refuse and tell them I'll call them back on the number on my bank cards.
I point blank refuse to give any details to anyone that phones me as I have no idea who they really are.
It's just down to common sense really.


Sent from somewhere using something

One caveat - make sure you call the bank (or whatever) on a telephone other than the one that they called you on ... if they called you on the landline then when you hang up, the line doesn't actually go up ... there are scams out there where they give you a dial tone, wait for you to dial, then pick up pretending to be your bank! This cannot happen with a mobile, so best use your mobile for the call back.

Cheers,
Robin