The story of a businesswoman who lost her life savings to a sophisticated text scam is being shared as stark warning of the dangers posed by fraudsters.
BBC One's Dirty Rotten Scammers programme recently highlighted the story of Millie, a dog trainer from Sussex, who fell victim to a devastating deception during the pandemic. The cruel scam is called number spoofing, The Express reports, and sees criminals contact their victims while hiding their own numbers and pretending to be trusted organisations like banks.
Millie was caught out during the pandemic, when she got a text from what she thought to be 02. The text claimed they had not processed her latest bill and directed her to click the link provided to enter her details again.
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Following the link to a realistic-looking '02 website', Millie entered in her personal details. But a few days later she got a call from someone claiming to be part of the fraud team at HSBC, her bank.
The caller told her that someone had tried to take out a direct debit on her card. In a bid to reassure her they were her bank, the scammers quoted Millie’s card number and personal details to her as 'proof' of who they were. She was further convinced as the number they called on matched the number for the bank on the back of her credit card.
The scammers convinced Millie that her account had been compromised and suggested that she move her money into a 'safe account' to stop it from being stolen. The criminals even convinced her to transfer the funds from her business account into the new account as well.
Millie said: “I had £500 in my business account which was the only money left really and that was what my clients had raised to keep the club afloat so we could pay our ongoing expenses as we had no income.
“They took that and I think about £22,500 in total in the end.”
Millie was oblivious to what had happened until she received a text from her bank informing her her account was overdrawn. She immediately called the bank and told them about the conversation she believed she had had with them the day before.
Millie continued: “They said, ‘it wasn’t us’ and then it clicked. I just burst into tears. I just sobbed and thought, ‘Oh no what am I going to do?’”
Left penniless, Millie was forced to asked her mum for help so that she could eat. The situation was made even more difficult as it came during the pandemic, with lockdown rules in place.
She added: “I had to go to mum's house just to get cash so I can buy food and she couldn’t hug me. That was awful.
“I’m in her driveway sobbing and she can’t even hug me because of social distancing rules. It was quite traumatic because you couldn’t talk to anybody or see anyone.”
David Callington, head of fraud at HSBC, said there are a few simple steps all bank customers can take to avoid being caught out by this scame.
He said: “If you’ve got concerns, just phone us back on the number at the back of the card. Leave it 10 minutes or phone back using a different number.
“If somebody is phoning you, and asking you to move money to a safe account, or asking you to give out a one time passcode to access your online banking or make an online payment, that’s not the bank.
“Hang up straight away. Banks will never do that.“
Dirty Rotten Scammers is available on BBC iPlayer.
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