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.

Yes, please tell us who you bank with so we can avoid them!

Interestingly i got a call from "my bank" as i was flying back to the UK 2 days ago. They peddled the suspicious transactions story and called from private number. My bank never calls from private number and sends notification in the app to confirm that's them calling. So my scammers left empty handed.

They didn’t. Anyone can have your bank and sort code not be able to access to your money.

The verification code was just like when you purchase something - it’s a one time password OTP to say you agree to send money securely . Unfortunately it was straight to scammers rather than for a nice jumper.

They didn’t. Anyone can have your bank and sort code not be able to access to your money.

The verification code was just like when you purchase something - it’s a one time password OTP to say you agree to send money securely . Unfortunately it was straight to scammers rather than for a nice jumper.

If anyone rings about money I just say I’m calling back or going in to branch I shut my HSBC account when they shut the local branch. Three banks have shut in my town and we still have four but three are building societies.

Banks can only get the payment back if it remains in the original account that they transferred it into
That's not true.

This is rubbish @BonneMamanAbricot, im so sorry. Lying bastards, I hope your money chokes them.

Well they'll be disappointed to see that most posters whove replied are well aware that you dont give codes out to unexpected callers and anyone who didn't know that does know it so they rather shot themselves in the foot haven't they?

Yes I am wondering the same. I give out my bank account number and sort code to clients but that wouldn't be enough information for them to take money out of my account surely? To take money out of my account you have to log into my account first. And unless you also gave them your password to get into your account they could only get into it by hacking in and you can't really do anything to prevent someone hacking the account. I also wish I understood exactly how the scam works.

Worth noting, if you are using a landline to wait about 15 minutes before calling the genuine number - on the old landline BT system its the caller hanging up that breaks the circuit, not the receiver of the call.

An old trick is to play the dial tone into the phone to make you think you have a clear line.

If you wait 15 minutes having hung up it will reset automatically and the line will be clear.

Well they obviously did, unless you're saying the OP is lying?.

She spoke to ONE person at the bank, not the whole bloody company. Perhaps the person she spoke to had never come across this before!

I'm guessing that they used the a/c and sort code numbers to try and get into her online banking. Then the OTP that the OP was tricked into revealing allowed them to reset her online banking password and get access?

Very true, my acc number and sort code are on all my invoices for customers to pay me, they alone won't let anyone access you account.

They will need your customer number and pin to do that and often a one time pass code to do a new, large payment.

What bank is it OP?

I’m a bit confused as to what has actually happened. So the scammers had access to to your bank account AND they managed to get a legitimate code generated but you had to repeat the code to your bank when they called? How did they manage that? Sounds like something is amiss with the bank’s security if this is what happened and you should be reimbursed for any losses accordingly.

Banks do call people.

BUT, if anyone from "your bank" phones and the first thing they say is some bollocks about suspicious transactions on fraud on your account it's a scam. 100%. Hang up. Dial 159 from any phone but preferably a different one and it'll put you through to your own bank's fraud department and they can advise whether you need to cancel cards or change passwords.

It won't be the scam they haven't seen, but this particular variation on it - they all work the same way, ie, get details to get access, but there are differences in the script or method they use - I'd take it that's what they meant.

So, just to understand, they play the dial tone into the phone, then also the tones for number presses and then the tone for when it rings on the other end? Because all these processes produce different sounds which everyone would know. They have that all timed perfectly to play like everyone does it at the same pace?
This is futuristic technology they had for back when people used home phones... Well ahead of their time, Incredible.

I’ve had a few of these over the last couple of months. Fortunately I realised it was a scam and didn’t comply. They also sent me an OTP to my phone to ‘cancel’ the fraudulent purchase and it appeared in the thread that I do receive from my bank. They said it is common and the reason it appears in the same thread as actual bank communications is something to do with your phone recognising the name of the account eg HSBC so your phone puts it into the thread which is so confusing. The second one last month, when I said look mate you’re the second one this week to try this. I know you’re a scammer, your mum would be so disappointed if she knew what you did for a living, completely lost his shit at me, shouting that if he had been the first one that week he would have taken me for every penny I had and that I was a fucking cunt not to comply. I laughed and put the phone down. Waited a few hours, phoned a few more people then my bank to cancel my card.
had it happen again this week. Kept up the pretense for a while of giving them an incorrect number to their irritation before they realised what I was doing and gave up.
My bank says that I must have bought something online and that’s how they are getting my card details. I have another card now!

A good policy is not to answer the phone to unknown numbers. iPhones will screen calls for you too. There’s no need to answer. This could have been avoided. No scammers ever even manage to communicate at all with me.

Yes, so usually when you make a payment that requires an OTP, you get a message with the code and then you give it to the automated caller. But I didn't get the message, the scammer did. He then gave it to me, to give to the caller. I don't know how many of my details they had but what they asked me for was sort code and account number. I don't know how it happened and I plan to go into the bank when it opens but it is very stressful, it appears they had a lot of information.

They also know a bit of information about you and don't rely on you telling them who they've called. They just ask identifying info, they already have the rest. And if they don't... Then I'm sure I don't need to finish the sentence... (Then again after some responses 😬 the human race is a worry).

If it's not already been mentioned:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/stop--hang-up--and-call-159-if-you-re-worried-about-bank-scam-ca/

Need to call your bank? Many can now dial 159 for safety

Consumers wanting to avoid financial fraud now have a secure and easy-to-remember phone number to contact their banks on in order to avoid painful scams. It could prove to be the safest way for many to contact their provider if they have suspicions and concerns about their accounts, or even if they're struggling to find a customer services number...

...When calling 159, you'll be taken through an option menu in which each bank that has signed up to the service is read aloud. Customers are then able to use their telephone keypad to be put through to their bank. You'll then be directed through to your bank's customer service department.

What is this common sense you speak?!
That is going to throw some of the pearl clutchers right off their perch.

@Owly11

The scammers have their own account and basically they convinced Op to put her money into it. Just like when you buy something online. The scammers got her to give them enough details to get a One Time Password/ verification code. This means Op agreed to send it so the bank authorised it

They're not going to read into that. If they're stupid enough to give all info required to log in and transfer they aren't going to read into something logical.