The rise of UK Banking Scammers

Last time I was at my mum's she had an issue with her card being blocked for an online transaction and an Indian accent rang up from HSBC asking to verify it was her... Now it turned out to be real I was 99% convinced but Jesus Christ did I put this dude through 5 mins of hell proving who he was... I felt bad afterwords. I even rand their customer care after to verify they had called. Ofc that would have been too late but I was already satisfied..,..

It might be xenophobic but Indian accent on phone = scam. That is a good default threat level for most unsolicited calls.
 
Just got led down this merry path myself. They asked me to put my card into the reader which luckily I didn't have on me. Told them to ring back at 2 o'clock. Looking back it's scary to think how far I could have gone before smelling a rat.

Luckily this gave me time to have a think and phoned the genuine number on the banking website who said no, wasn't us.

Buggers phoned me on my mobile as I was on the landline to the bank.
 
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One thing worth mentioning is that it's very easy to spoof caller ID or the SMS originator (number or text name the sms is coming from), so don't just rely on those to check whether the number calling/texting you is legit or not.
 
It's really simple.
Never pick up a call and give your details

Always be the one making the call.


Its sad for vulnerable people, and those who just don't get it.
 
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Thinking back over the conversation, one sentence did seem odd and really should have made me end the call there and then.

"The transactions have been flagged as suspicious as they did not originate from your IP address" had me scratching my head at the time thinking "Eh, what does that even mean?"
 
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413x said:
It's really simple.
Never pick up a call and give your details

Always be the one making the call.


Its sad for vulnerable people, and those who just don't get it.
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The problem is that by phoning them, you have to jump through all the "Press #1 for X, #2 for Y" hoops, then spend 15 mins on hold, before finally getting through to someone who may or may not be the right person to speak to.

You're right of course, but given the potential pain of the above, I understand why some people don't.
 
I have one simple rule, if someone is approaching my they are a scammer until proven otherwise. I won't answer a random call. If I need to I will go to their website, not via a scammer provided link, and call them myself. Almost impossible to be scammed this way. It's only paranoia until you get caught out, then it's smart ;)

The tech is so good now they need to resort to social engineering to get past it, don't engage and they can't "engineer" you. There was a kid (Kane Gamble) from this part of the world who got done for using the same tactics to get access to the email account of the US Director of National Intelligence, Secretary of Homeland Security, FBI Deputy Director and a number of others. I suspect he's on a few lists now :cry:
 
For anything like this, I will just hang up and call the bank back on a verified number that's advertised on their website.

Safest way.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Ooh, how do I do that, that could be useful....?
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It's not simple like changing the SMTP address in a sent email yourself, you'll need to find a company willing/capable of doing it. Mostly it's done via dodgy telcos in dodgy countries. When I worked for an actual telco in the UK I was able to do it fairly easily, but I looked after those platforms and it wasn't something available to people outside. In slightly less HR-led times it was a lot of fun sending text messages from colleagues to other colleagues, but I doubt it would be great for a lasting career in 2023 where nobody has a sense of humour anymore. :D
 
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I get about two of these calls a week. The usual schtick asking for personal info and banking details. I googled the last phone number out of curiosity and found this. Seems like they have been doing it for years. Next time, I am going to blow a blowhorn down the phone. Absolute scammers.
 
jaybee said:
Fair play, was unaware of how this works. So they stay on the line waiting for you to hear the initial response from them?
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Its a great system...
  • The phone rings and you can answer/hangup or hit the "screen call" button.
  • The caller then hears a recorded "the number you are calling is using a screening service from Google, go ahead and say why you are calling" (or words to that effect)
  • As the caller speaks, the phone live transcribes what they say onto your screen as they say it.
  • You can choose to then hang up, answer or even respond from a set list of response which are then spoken to the caller e.g. "can you repeat that please" and it goes back and forth until you answer, hang up or the caller disconnects.

From experience, spam callers hang up as soon as they hear the Call Screening greeting before it even finishes.:

 
Unless it's a number I know, I just don't answer. If it's important, they'll leave a message and more often than not, follow up with an email. If they're scamming, they never do either

I hate the phone anyway, so have no problem ignoring phone calls from anyone that isn't a saved contact
 
jaybee said:
In some of the scams, the fraudsters are able to convince people that a new current account is being made for them and that they need to transfer all of their money over to the new one. Whilst these sound laughably obvious, the manner in which they talk this through and convince people with calm, professionalism is actually quite scary. Many elders will fall for this.
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That's still absurd and silly, obvs the elderly and gullible fall for this stuff but someone phoning to tell you they're making a new current account for you - and presumably want you to make a transfer or something? Is kinda laughable, ignore the accent and just focus on what they're saying and whether it's ridiculous or not.

jaybee said:
What should I have done and others too?
Don't pick up unknown numbers.
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You can screen them for sure but hospitals etc.. phone from unknown numbers.

There's nothing to stop you from asking for someone's full name, the department they work in, why you haven't been notified of anything in the banking app etc.. Check what it is they're telling you, speak to someone else at your bank later. There's no way some bizarre thing like "we're setting up a new current account for you" needs to be handled on that call or on that day even.
 
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It's getting harder to tell TBH. You pick up the phone and hear an Indian accent and automatically think scam, but it can be legit.

They are everywhere now. If you are job hunting you get scams there too now. Offering interviews, but then of course they need card details :rolleyes:
 
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