Bob:
I got into a terrible situation. They called from my bank, called my name and asked to confirm that I was now applying for a loan for $ 10000. I was very surprised because I didn’t register anything at that moment. The bank employee said that if it is not me, then the fraudsters are trying to take out a loan on my behalf, so action must be taken urgently. He sent me a link to an application that I needed to download in order to protect my data and stop fraudsters. There was no time to think, I downloaded it right away. Then he asked me to name the code from the SMS, some other data, passwords, I don't remember exactly. I just followed the instructions to sort things out as soon as possible.
An employee on the phone said that unfortunately the bank managed to give me a loan, but thanks to the fact that we quickly realized it, the fraudsters had not yet been able to get access to the money. And in order to accurately protect the money, I must urgently withdraw them all from an ATM and transfer them to a secure account in a partner bank. They say it's more reliable.
And after that it will be possible to close that loan. The employee told me to go to the ATM, and he will call back in half an hour.
I ran to the ATM of my bank, withdrew all the money. The employee called back and told me to put the money in another bank's ATM now. He gave me the address where to go. I don’t know at all what came over me, as if under hypnosis I called a taxi (!) There so as not to walk down the street with a large sum.
When I arrived, the employee called me again and dictated the number of the secure account. I have credited money to it. All this time, the employee was in touch. He said that now everything is in order and that I should wait for the next call to close the loan. But he never called again.
I called back his number - it is not available. I went to the bank's website and called the number that is written there - they told me that I had just issued a pre-approved loan and had withdrawn all the money. And they do not know about a secure account, they say that I ran into scammers. I had to write a statement to the bank and the police. I'm waiting for what will happen. What should I do?
Financial Culture Expert:
The scammers used social engineering tricks to trick Bob into following their instructions. First, we collected information about him: full name, phone number and the name of the bank where he is served. The cybercriminals most likely obtained this information as a result of personal data leaks. Perhaps they also found out that Stepan has a pre-approved loan and found out how much. Or they named the size of the loan at random.
A pre-approved loan can be issued remotely - but for this the fraudsters had to hack Bob's online bank. They convinced him to download a "security" application, which in fact gave fraudsters remote access to his personal account on the bank's website.
The only thing left to do was to force Bob to tell them the codes to confirm credit transactions, and then to convince them to transfer all the money to a fraudulent "safe account".
While Bob thought that he was “saving” his money, the attackers took out a loan on his behalf. The problem is that in fact everything happened with the consent of Stepan: he himself provided the attackers with secret data to confirm the operations.
When the bank transferred a loan to Bob, he withdrew this money and again transferred it to the account of the criminals through an ATM. Most likely, in this way the criminals wanted to "cover their tracks".
If Bob made a transfer to the scammers directly from his account, the bank would easily recognize their details and blacklist them - in the future, transfers would be automatically blocked. And when a person under dictation enters the account number of the deceivers in an ATM, he is unlikely to be able to remember it and inform the police.
Banks do not return money in cases where people voluntarily transfer money to fraudsters or give them data that opens access to accounts.
In any case, in such a situation, it is necessary to write a statement to the creditor and submit a statement to the police.
In the meantime, the proceedings are underway, you will have to pay on the loan so as not to spoil your credit history.
If you receive an alarm call from a "bank employee", do not rush to follow his instructions. Hang up and call the bank yourself by dialing the number indicated on its official website or on the back of the card. How to recognize telephone fraudsters, read the text “They call from the official bank number and ask for confidential data. What to do?".
I got into a terrible situation. They called from my bank, called my name and asked to confirm that I was now applying for a loan for $ 10000. I was very surprised because I didn’t register anything at that moment. The bank employee said that if it is not me, then the fraudsters are trying to take out a loan on my behalf, so action must be taken urgently. He sent me a link to an application that I needed to download in order to protect my data and stop fraudsters. There was no time to think, I downloaded it right away. Then he asked me to name the code from the SMS, some other data, passwords, I don't remember exactly. I just followed the instructions to sort things out as soon as possible.
An employee on the phone said that unfortunately the bank managed to give me a loan, but thanks to the fact that we quickly realized it, the fraudsters had not yet been able to get access to the money. And in order to accurately protect the money, I must urgently withdraw them all from an ATM and transfer them to a secure account in a partner bank. They say it's more reliable.
And after that it will be possible to close that loan. The employee told me to go to the ATM, and he will call back in half an hour.
I ran to the ATM of my bank, withdrew all the money. The employee called back and told me to put the money in another bank's ATM now. He gave me the address where to go. I don’t know at all what came over me, as if under hypnosis I called a taxi (!) There so as not to walk down the street with a large sum.
When I arrived, the employee called me again and dictated the number of the secure account. I have credited money to it. All this time, the employee was in touch. He said that now everything is in order and that I should wait for the next call to close the loan. But he never called again.
I called back his number - it is not available. I went to the bank's website and called the number that is written there - they told me that I had just issued a pre-approved loan and had withdrawn all the money. And they do not know about a secure account, they say that I ran into scammers. I had to write a statement to the bank and the police. I'm waiting for what will happen. What should I do?
Financial Culture Expert:
The scammers used social engineering tricks to trick Bob into following their instructions. First, we collected information about him: full name, phone number and the name of the bank where he is served. The cybercriminals most likely obtained this information as a result of personal data leaks. Perhaps they also found out that Stepan has a pre-approved loan and found out how much. Or they named the size of the loan at random.
A pre-approved loan can be issued remotely - but for this the fraudsters had to hack Bob's online bank. They convinced him to download a "security" application, which in fact gave fraudsters remote access to his personal account on the bank's website.
The only thing left to do was to force Bob to tell them the codes to confirm credit transactions, and then to convince them to transfer all the money to a fraudulent "safe account".
While Bob thought that he was “saving” his money, the attackers took out a loan on his behalf. The problem is that in fact everything happened with the consent of Stepan: he himself provided the attackers with secret data to confirm the operations.
When the bank transferred a loan to Bob, he withdrew this money and again transferred it to the account of the criminals through an ATM. Most likely, in this way the criminals wanted to "cover their tracks".
If Bob made a transfer to the scammers directly from his account, the bank would easily recognize their details and blacklist them - in the future, transfers would be automatically blocked. And when a person under dictation enters the account number of the deceivers in an ATM, he is unlikely to be able to remember it and inform the police.
Banks do not return money in cases where people voluntarily transfer money to fraudsters or give them data that opens access to accounts.
In any case, in such a situation, it is necessary to write a statement to the creditor and submit a statement to the police.
In the meantime, the proceedings are underway, you will have to pay on the loan so as not to spoil your credit history.
If you receive an alarm call from a "bank employee", do not rush to follow his instructions. Hang up and call the bank yourself by dialing the number indicated on its official website or on the back of the card. How to recognize telephone fraudsters, read the text “They call from the official bank number and ask for confidential data. What to do?".
