Scams Week: How one customer almost lost $37,500 to a bank impersonator
"You have an unpaid toll invoice..."
We've all had those annoying messages and phone calls. They can look like they come from the post office, from your bank, from myGov and from road tolls. Most of the time, we know to avoid them.
But over time these scams have become more sophisticated.
They know what makes people tick, whether it's going for the emotional reaction ('Hey mum, I lost my phone...') or for the immediate action reaction ('Pay your ATO bill now or the federal police will be involved...').
The theme for Scams Awareness Week 2024 is 'Share a Story, Stop a Scam'.
Why? Well scams aren't like fraud, they require humans to fall for them. So, the more scam stories out in the open, the fewer people fall for them (hopefully).
This week, ANZ is sharing its stories with Finder of some of the times where it has prevented scams.
Here's a story about an impersonation scam:
The customer received an SMS which appeared to be from ANZ about a transaction that was made overseas from their account. It asked the customer to call a specified number if they did not make the transaction.The customer did so and scammers answered the call claiming to be from ANZ Fraud.
The customer was told their accounts were compromised and they would need to move their funds to a 'safe' account that "the bank" had set up for them.
The customer transferred $15,000.00 to the bank account provided by the scammers, using voice ID through the ANZ app. They then transferred an additional $15,000 the following day (due to transfer limit on the account).
The customer completed an additional transaction of $7500.00. This was flagged and rejected in Falcon.
ANZ's Detection team called the customer about this transaction. In their conversation with the customer, ANZ established that the customer had been victim of an ANZ impersonation scam.
ANZ immediately reported the matter to the receiving bank and was able to recover the full balance of $30,000.00 which they had managed to transfer.
How do impersonation scams work?
While there are many scenarios that can play out, these are some of the common ones:
- You receive a phone call, SMS message, or email claiming to be from a trusted organisation like a bank, telecommunication provider, or the taxation office. They might try to direct you to click a link and log in to their services to verify fraudulent activity on your account.
- You get a phone call or voicemail claiming to be someone from the government, tax office or even the federal police, threatening that if you don't pay the money that they claim you owe, there will be immediate and dire consequences.
- You get a message from a 'family member', like a son, daughter, or parent. They might address you casually and warmly, asking you to transfer them money to get them out of a jam.
"It's important to be wary of any request asking for money or personal information – particularly banking information – even if it appears to be someone you know," says Erica Hardinge, ANZ's Product Area Lead in Staff and Customer Security Education and Resilience Enablement.
"It's unlikely a family member will suddenly have a new number, be un-reachable for a phone call and be in dire need of money."
6 impersonation scam red flags
- An unsolicited or unexpected call, email or message.
- Being prompted to follow a link to an external website and fill in your details.
- An urgent request for action.
- Request for you to share sensitive information (PINs, usernames, passwords).
- Being asked to download a file.
- Being informed of an unauthorised transaction or asked to confirm a payment you didn't make.
"Emails or text messages which you don't expect to receive, with links to provide your personal information are also unlikely to be from legitimate organisations," explains Erica. "For example, a text in the middle of the night about an undelivered parcel, requesting you to confirm delivery details via a weblink is a huge red flag."
Keep your money safe by understanding the types of scams out there.
