talkmagic.co.uk

Today I was the target of a telephone scam.
This did not in any way, shape or form make my day.

The scam runs like this: Some guy phones up claiming to be phoning from the bank, asks a few security questions and then tells you that a Direct Debit has bounced. This requires paying off straight away and can you make a card payment over the phone right now?
Hell. No.

Up until that point I'm not sure what had me so concerned but it seemed a bit suspicious.
I lied and said I didn't have my debit card on me and the guy got very angry, rude and pushy about making this card payment.
I said I'd go and get my card and call back in half an hour.
Took the number then hung up on him.

To find out this was a scam (I was fairly convinced by this point) I phoned Phonebank (Lloyds TSB customers will be familiar with this most excellent service) only to betold there were NO problems with my account, NOTHING outstanding and no record of anyone trying to get in touch with me. Furthermore, if someone from Lloyds TSB ever did need to get in touch with me they would have all my details in front of them and would just juggle funds.

Watch out guys - both my girlfriend and my mum said they would have fallen for it if it had been them.
If you get any calls like this, phone your bank (use the number on your card not the number they give you) and check the details.

frightening stuff.

Did he mention the name of the bank that he was phoning from or just say 'the bank'?

Obviously you took it to be your own bank but I was wondering if he knew your bank up front.

EckoZero wrote:The scam runs like this: Some guy phones up claiming to be phoning from the bank, asks a few security questions

That's always annoyed me. I always refuse to answer such security questions when people phone me (not the other way round) because it could be a scammer

Hmmm. Good question!
Memory is a funny thing because I would swear blind he said "Lloyds TSB" but cant actually remember him ever saying it
It's possible he didn't know my bank and just said "the bank" and naturally I filled in the mental blank for him.

That might have been why I was thinking "something about this call isn't right" to be honest...


[edit] My mother can confirm that when he called asking to speak to me he didn't actually say he was from Lloyds but since I've moved out it's only them who ever call for me so she assumed it was them.
I don't remember him saying LLoyds at all during the call and the number he gave doesn't tie up anywhere...

I never speak to anyone who calls me claiming to be from my bank. I always offer to call them back on a number that I know to be genuine; if they are genuine, they won't mind in the slightest.

Just follow this rule and you will never get scammed: never, ever give any personal or sensitive info to anyone who has initiated a phone call to you claiming to be from a bank or whatever. Simple as that.

Ecko... do you use Pentacle Magic Society in Cambridge?

When you study a social engineering attack like this, it quickly becomes apparent that a mind going about its regular business of making what should be good working assumptions is as open to exploit as a computer without a firewall or malware protection

Does anyone remember the episode of "Fonejacker" where the fake Nigerian character manages to not only get the answer to Jimmy Saville's nephew's security question (which is how he discovered it was his nephew in the first place), but also an offer of a Jim'll Fix It badge.

Jordan C wrote:Ecko... do you use Pentacle Magic Society in Cambridge?

Technically I am a member. But I went once by myself, got lost the second and third time and have given up since. I really should head up there one day - after all, I paid my subs!

How on earth did you get lost!!!, A14, come off at histon and left towards cam, left at first set of lights, right at the next and the school is round the bend on the left!!!

If you fancy meeting up and going I'm game!!

I have no idea. I think because I used to get a lift with a mate and he went a different way So I tried to go myself and got lost.

I'd like to start going again on day's when I'm not working too late (not so easy to come across ) but drop me a PM sometime

kolm wrote:I always refuse to answer such security questions when people phone me (not the other way round) because it could be a scammer

That is a very good rule. And, with the easy availability of caller-id spoofing, you can't even trust your caller-id any more. There have been scams in the past where the caller instructs the caller to call a a certain number and/or type in a long series of numbers into the phone for some reason or another and what ends up happening is that the "series of numbers" actually sets up call-forwarding to the criminal's phone so, when the bank calls about the fraudulent charges the call goes to the criminal who, of course, says "Oh yeah, I made that purchase/transfer/etc..."

You would be surprised how inventive the criminals are, and how much work they will go through to avoid having to earn an honest living.