Bob:
Call from a landline number. A solid male voice is loud: I am a bank security officer, we recorded an unauthorized operation on your account and several unsuccessful attempts to log into your Internet bank. I, of course, tensed: what to do? He: I will now open a reserve account for you to transfer your money there, and then they will be safe. Only, he says, before that it is necessary to carry out verification to make sure that it is really you. You need to provide the number, card expiration date and three digits on the back. I didn't understand: why are there three numbers? After all, they cannot be given to anyone. He replies: a bank employee is allowed. What if you are not from the bank, I ask. And he: so that you have no doubts, now you will receive an SMS message from the bank's official number about opening a reserve account.
And for sure - an SMS comes from the bank number from which I receive reports on payments and salary crediting. It is really about booking an account, as the security officer said. And the code has also been written that needs to be sent in a return message. This code, which is indicated in the SMS, do not tell me, the man warns. It is secret and you must not share it with anyone. This bribed me: I believed him. Well, he dictated all the details of the card. He said he would now transfer my money to a secure account and call me back.
When I hung up, notifications began to come to the phone that money was being withdrawn from my card. At first I thought that everything was in order - they were being transferred to that reserve account. But then I suddenly began to doubt and decided to clarify when and how I can return them back to the card account? I call the number from which the security officer called me, but he is not available. Then he dialed the bank number, which is written on the card. And the employee said that scammers deceived me. The card will be blocked and reissued, but the money will not be returned, because I myself told the criminal the secret data.
Only I didn't understand why the bank sent me an SMS then? It actually came from the real issue.
Financial Culture Expert:
Bob ran into a fraudster who posed as a bank employee and told the legend about the "reserve account" in order to find out the card details and steal money from it.
To make the story seem plausible, the swindler left a request on the bank's website for a "remote account reservation" for a business, specifying the phone number of his victim. And in fact, Anton received an SMS notification from the bank to confirm this application. In a stressful situation, he took the message as proof of the words of the deceivers about the opening of the mythical "reserve account".
In fact, there are no special accounts that hide money from scammers.
To reserve a business account through the bank's website, an entrepreneur usually needs to fill out a questionnaire - indicate his full name, phone number and SNN. The attacker could have gotten Anton's data as a result of a personal information leak, or simply hammered in the SNN at random - and submitted an application on his behalf. Having received an online request, the bank immediately sends an SMS with a code - it must be sent in a reply message to confirm its intention to open a current account.
But banks never send SMS to confirm the authenticity of calls.
A real bank employee can only specify the full card number and the owner's name, but will never require the card expiration date, PIN code, CVC / CVV code (three digits on the back of the card) or codes from PUSH and SMS messages. Only scammers ask for such data - after all, they can be used to withdraw money from the card.
Since Anton violated the security rules and himself gave out confidential information to fraudsters, the bank will not reimburse him for losses. It remains only to contact the police.
Sometimes swindlers use another scheme - they offer a person to transfer their savings to a “reserve account” on their own through an online or mobile bank and even through an ATM. But then it turns out that this "safe account" belongs to the criminals. And if the client of the bank sends money to him himself, it will be impossible to return them either.
If you are given any disturbing information about your accounts and are asked to urgently provide confidential data or transfer money, do not panic and do not follow these instructions. It is best to immediately hang up and call the hotline, the number of which is indicated on the back of your card and on the official website of the bank. Real bank employees will tell you what to do.
For more information on how to recognize telephone fraudsters in time and secure your money, read the texts “They call from the bank number and ask for confidential data. What to do?" and Social Engineering: Why People Give Money to Scammers.
Call from a landline number. A solid male voice is loud: I am a bank security officer, we recorded an unauthorized operation on your account and several unsuccessful attempts to log into your Internet bank. I, of course, tensed: what to do? He: I will now open a reserve account for you to transfer your money there, and then they will be safe. Only, he says, before that it is necessary to carry out verification to make sure that it is really you. You need to provide the number, card expiration date and three digits on the back. I didn't understand: why are there three numbers? After all, they cannot be given to anyone. He replies: a bank employee is allowed. What if you are not from the bank, I ask. And he: so that you have no doubts, now you will receive an SMS message from the bank's official number about opening a reserve account.
And for sure - an SMS comes from the bank number from which I receive reports on payments and salary crediting. It is really about booking an account, as the security officer said. And the code has also been written that needs to be sent in a return message. This code, which is indicated in the SMS, do not tell me, the man warns. It is secret and you must not share it with anyone. This bribed me: I believed him. Well, he dictated all the details of the card. He said he would now transfer my money to a secure account and call me back.
When I hung up, notifications began to come to the phone that money was being withdrawn from my card. At first I thought that everything was in order - they were being transferred to that reserve account. But then I suddenly began to doubt and decided to clarify when and how I can return them back to the card account? I call the number from which the security officer called me, but he is not available. Then he dialed the bank number, which is written on the card. And the employee said that scammers deceived me. The card will be blocked and reissued, but the money will not be returned, because I myself told the criminal the secret data.
Only I didn't understand why the bank sent me an SMS then? It actually came from the real issue.
Financial Culture Expert:
Bob ran into a fraudster who posed as a bank employee and told the legend about the "reserve account" in order to find out the card details and steal money from it.
To make the story seem plausible, the swindler left a request on the bank's website for a "remote account reservation" for a business, specifying the phone number of his victim. And in fact, Anton received an SMS notification from the bank to confirm this application. In a stressful situation, he took the message as proof of the words of the deceivers about the opening of the mythical "reserve account".
In fact, there are no special accounts that hide money from scammers.
To reserve a business account through the bank's website, an entrepreneur usually needs to fill out a questionnaire - indicate his full name, phone number and SNN. The attacker could have gotten Anton's data as a result of a personal information leak, or simply hammered in the SNN at random - and submitted an application on his behalf. Having received an online request, the bank immediately sends an SMS with a code - it must be sent in a reply message to confirm its intention to open a current account.
But banks never send SMS to confirm the authenticity of calls.
A real bank employee can only specify the full card number and the owner's name, but will never require the card expiration date, PIN code, CVC / CVV code (three digits on the back of the card) or codes from PUSH and SMS messages. Only scammers ask for such data - after all, they can be used to withdraw money from the card.
Since Anton violated the security rules and himself gave out confidential information to fraudsters, the bank will not reimburse him for losses. It remains only to contact the police.
Sometimes swindlers use another scheme - they offer a person to transfer their savings to a “reserve account” on their own through an online or mobile bank and even through an ATM. But then it turns out that this "safe account" belongs to the criminals. And if the client of the bank sends money to him himself, it will be impossible to return them either.
If you are given any disturbing information about your accounts and are asked to urgently provide confidential data or transfer money, do not panic and do not follow these instructions. It is best to immediately hang up and call the hotline, the number of which is indicated on the back of your card and on the official website of the bank. Real bank employees will tell you what to do.
For more information on how to recognize telephone fraudsters in time and secure your money, read the texts “They call from the bank number and ask for confidential data. What to do?" and Social Engineering: Why People Give Money to Scammers.
