Just got scammed out of almost 1k

[BonneMamanAbricot]

Please be so careful of phone calls from your bank. Always call them back, as caller ID can be faked. My actual bank said they had never seen this scam. They duplicated everything, all the spiels, the robot connecting voice, the hold music.

Second month of being paid after 5 months of no income. Back to nothing again. FFS.

Two years ago I meant to say...so its not that new.

But that’s the thing, my bank (Amex) did call me last week to ask me if I had attempted to make a particular transaction. I was in a meeting and I quickly said yes, I did attempt it but I didn’t complete it as I didnt have my phone with me for the code which would have been generated to complete the transaction. I ask them in a rush to close the case, told them it was me, all was well. But they insisted that they can’t discuss the issue before I pass security. I really didn’t have time to talk so I asked them to call back.

So this was indeed my bank and it was related to a real transaction I had attempted, but it could have been someone trying to scam me

Same thing here! Scammer bought himself (and I assume his friends) KFC and I got refunded within the hour

Yes 100%. What they did was tell me that the code was a verification code for my mobile banking phone number. (Made me double-check I had no other phone number for security reasons, asked details of my wifi security - really acted like they were trying to secure the account.)

Then when my bank made its automated call, it didn't say anything like 'payment verification,' just said 'type in your code.'

So in theory I knew, but it was so well-concealed I didn't put two and two together. They pre-empted everything with a logical explanation.

I hope this can help someone...I've gone through hell today

It doesn't matter whether they can retrieve the money or not. Unless they find you've been careless, you should get it back within 5 days.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2024/10/bank-transfer-scam-refund-rules/

your bank just said ‘’type in your code’’? Well, that’s clearly insufficient so that’s what you should put in your complaint to the bank when you ask for a refund. The fraudster definitely tailored their scam to take this detail into account.
My bank definitely says something along the lines of ‘you’re making a new payment, type in your payment authorisation code’

Oh bless you OP. I've certainly had automated calls from my bank asking me to input codes before. All too easy to get caught out now that everything is remote/mobile and we therefore conduct transactions without full attention - we don't go into bank branches any more because there are none, mostly we don't even sit down at a desktop computer and set aside time and attention for banking tasks. It all just comes at us while we're on the hoof/dealing with kids/otherwise unable to fully concentrate.

Thanks so much for this. They told me they would need to retrieve the money from the receiving banks if those accounts still had money in them...and did not sound confident that I would get any money back...I will raise this if it comes to that

Someone tried this on my brother recently and he got to the part where a verification code came through on his phone and he suddenly realised what it was. The scammers are relying on people being busy, stressed or naive and they exploit that.

Banks do sometimes ring people (mine does) but with my bank, they send a pop up message in my banking app so I can be absolutely sure it’s them. It’d be good if more banks rolled this out as I think it’d cut down on a lot of this.

I'm so sorry this happened.

Advice to everyone:

As an absolute rule, if anyone calls you and asks you to go through security, hang up.

You should only answer security questions if you have called them.

Id go into the bank on Monday and ask for a refund.

Good luck. 🤞

And please don't feel bad.. scammers are very clever.... and awful humans.

Oh no so sorry OP.
...the combination of authenticity and urgency was very effective. this is exactly how they operate. I hope you can recover some of your money.

Oh gosh, sorry. I thought banks stopped calling customers now because of anti-fraud guidelines.

My bank once called me about 10 or so years ago to check a payment on my account because it was for a very large amount of money and was out of character for me. I think it’s more unusual for them to do that now though.

Both that bank - and the other bank I’m with - now say on my banking app homepage that they won’t call customers. They advise them to hang up if someone from their bank is calling them. I thought all banks did that.

My DH got a call a few years back that made him suspicious .

One thing he found out was he hung up they didn't so if he'd phoned back he'd have got them ( I don't know how it works but he got back to the scammer ) .
Luckily he used a different phone to contact the bank .

They were very plausible didn't ask for details bit managed to find out the name of bank .
The plan then is they send a courier from TSB/Santander/Barclays whatever to pick up your card .

I was scammed at a CashPoint , so angry with myself and mostly with the scammer .

Sorry OP this happened to you
I had similar once and simply said
you cant be my bank, they don’t have this number.

also any sane person knows you or your bank can freeze accounts and they dont need to move your money to a safe account

sad it happened but really its on you for being a bit of a muppet

I don’t get this though. I could give my account number and sort code to anybody. It doesn’t mean they can transfer money out of my account. I’m not understanding the bit about the verification code I think 🤔

My bank as only ever called me twice in over 20 years.
First time i cant think of what it was about, i said i was going in to town so i will pop in to the bank as you never know if its a scam then i hung up.
Second time was about 18 months ago nothing big just something about my account had been blocked over something silly, again i said its fin i pop in and hung up.
Both times i was never ask for any bank details at all. just address where i opened said account and some passwords only i would know.

I got scammed in a fucking car park. It was cashless and someone had put a fake QR code on the information board. I thought I was paying for two hours' parking. Turns out I was setting up a subscription to a fake company. It actually took ages to unravel because the money started leaving my account several days after I'd left the car park and thought no more about it. And it was a council car park, so every time I tried to speak to someone I got "not my job" responses.

Way to kick a person when their down!! Blimey have a bit of compassion maybe!!

You mean they send a fake courier to your address to take your card after you change your details and are sent a new one?

Yeah the victim of a crime isn't the one at fault. That would be the thieves who stole her money.

Easy to say that. DH is the most cynical one going but he got scammed a few years ago in a similar way. It can happen to anyone. He realised straight away and ran to the bank and luckily nothing terrible happened.

I had a (initially) convincing call recently from someone claiming to be from my bank's fraud team. She was incredibly well spoken and well versed on what to say to sound convincing, as well as having a lot of my personal information. She had the last four digits of my debit card number, as well as my CVC. My suspicion wasn't aroused until she asked me to clarify the remainder of my card number for security purposes. She eventually hung up after trying to dissuade me from ending the call and ringing her/my bank back.

I'm so sorry this has happened to you @BonneMamanAbricot, I felt horrible after the scam attempt on me, it must feel ten times worse to have actually lost money to these scumbag criminals.

I reported it to my bank, and like your bank @BonneMamanAbricot they told me this wasn't a common scam, ie for them to have so much personal info without my card having been stolen. It felt likely to me (given that when buying online your card is asterisked besides for the last four digits, and it was only the last four digits this scammer had) that my details had been compromised in one of these cyber attacks (I had online accounts with both M&S and Harrods). Your CVC isn't meant to be stored, however the card was only ever used online, and I've never had any spyware issues (I'm meticulous with online security) thus I think my CVC must have been stored. I don't allow my details to be stored now online, I always check out as a guest.

I'm convinced the scammers got my details as a result of one of the aforementioned cyber attacks.

Never call the caller, they have cloned the number and it will direct you straight back to them

If you are called from "the bank, HMRC etc " you look the number up and ring that, preferably from another number

@BonneMamanAbricot , sorry this has happened to you, your bank should reimburse you pretty quickly

Yeah exactly it's just a moment's inattention. I find it quite incredible that people are still blaming victims of fraud. Obviously the banks want to push that narrative but they're the ones who want us all to have paperless and indeed person-less banking, while designing systems that judging by the amount of money lost to scams are wide open to theft.