My mom got phished in an EXTREMELY refined scam that pretty much anyone could fall for– basically her account was already pre-hacked and they spoofed the bank’s number exactly, called her pretending there was fraud, and read back legitimate and fake transactions and personal info so she wouldn’t suspect they weren’t the bank. Then discouraged her from logging in claiming the account was locked so they could investigate the fraud– all so she wouldnt catch them making massive purchases using her stolen info.
We have the same boss and when she told him what happened he recommended she call the bank directly, so she did and they managed to catch it in time before $20k of transactions went through. Very scary
I guess the lesson here is never ever answer your phone, I love that fraud is so rampant an entire form of mass communication is now useless
ANYONE can fall for phishing scams- my mom is extremely smart and we discuss common scams that target her age demographic and she still fell for this. If it happened to me I may have fallen for it too. Always be careful!
that’s EXACTLY what happened to me last spring. it’s dire out there….
that’s EXACTLY what
happened to me last spring.
it’s dire out there….
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
If you EVER get ANY call from ANYONE claiming to be a bank or other important group asking you for anything, tell them you will call them back and call them yourself. Do not call a number they give you, look it up yourself.
Banks don’t call people, IME. They send emails and texts and put notices on your online account. Credit cards sometimes do I believe, but in that case, just call the number on your card back.
Never take a call from anyone and assume they are who they say. Period. These people are skilled at social manipulation. They will always tell you there is a crisis.
And don’t just google the number, use your bank’s official site! A lot of search engines are now providing phone numbers of scams instead of legit ones. Also make sure the url of the site matches the one available on cards and other papers you’ve been given by your bank because fake sites can look VERY convincing.
FYI: the U.S. government will not call you. Is someone calls and says they’re the IRS? They’re lying. They say they’re the sheriff? Lying. ICE? Lying.
The United States will mail you information. If the government needs to reach you, check your mailbox.
The IRS are generally pretty forgiving and will accept that humans make errors. They will never demand immediate payment for back taxes, ever. They know that’s not feasible for most people, so they’ll usually make a payment plan and help you out. (This is, of course, assuming you’re an individual who fucked up their taxes, not someone running a massive tax fraud scheme.)
There’s also a scam going around right now for folks in the USA who use toll roads. NONE of the texts are real, the EZPass website has a huge banner on the site saying they’re all scams.
I think I’ve reblogged this a few times because I work in bank fraud. And the thing is, sometimes the bank does call! I have personally called tons of customers. And while it makes my job harder, I would STILL prefer if every one of them told me, “I can’t prove you’re really my bank,” hung up, and called the number on their card. Don’t worry about being rude by accusing a real bank agent of being a scammer. It’s fine. Hang up, and call back.
The only way to know who you’re talking to is if you make the call. And before sending a lot of money somewhere, run it by someone you trust–no one is immune to a good scam, but a friend will be in a different headspace, and more likely to recognize emotional manipulation.
i was going to just add this to tags but i think it’s important enough to add directly. i have definitely had my bank call me before, but the difference between your actual bank and a scammer is that the bank will TELL you information, and a scammer will ASK for it. no bank will call and ask for your card number, ssn, address, pin, etc. in my experience they just ask if I’m me and i say yes. then they either read out purchases or tell me my card has been replaced or whatever. and that’s it. credit cards are a bit different, and it is safer to call them back, because they are usually calling to ask for a payment or something. i almost got scammed through PayPal and it took me way too long to realize the robot voice was asking for way too much (btw I’ve had both real people and robots call me from my legit bank, and after the robot scammer i talked to a real person, so that’s not a good metric to tell whether it’s real or not unfortunately)
amhrancas 