Scams Week: How a scammer lured an elderly customer with ‘prize money’
Winning prizes is not always what it seems.
Most of us will have seen those emails from a distant prince offering us thousands of dollars, (or something similar), and while we generally know not to fall for it, there are plenty of other fake winnings out there that do lure people in.
It could be prize money from a competition you didn't enter, inheritance from an uncle you didn't know about, or a gift of money for helping in some other way. You might hear about it through an email, a phone call, a social media message or a random pop up message.
If you've made it to the end of the week without hearing, this week is Scams Awareness Week. ANZ has been sharing stories with Finder about real-life instances of its hard-working team preventing scams.
Today, ANZ shares a story about a prize money scam:
An elderly ANZ customer attempted to make a $30,000 domestic telegraphic transfer which was blocked by ANZ's fraud detection and prevention technology, Falcon, and referred to the ScamAssist team.
The customer told the scams officer that he was making the transfer to repay a loan to a friend.
When questioned by ANZ about the friend, the loan purpose and why the customer had completed the purpose of the payment as "winnings", the customer became flustered and uneasy.
The scams officer explained ANZ's concerns and educated the customer about scams. She suggested they discuss the transaction with a trusted family member.
The customer took the time to discuss the matter with their son and then contacted the scams team to explain they'd responded to a pop up message by calling a 1800 number provided. They were persuaded to make a $50,000 transfer to claim winnings of a much larger amount.
The scams officer was able to reject the payment for which the customer was very grateful.
What is the 'prize money' scam?
The scammer will claim to be contacting you on behalf of a company holding a competition for a large prize, and guess what? You're the lucky winner! Of course, if you happen to believe their claims, you'll be anything but.
Scammers can reach you from multiple platforms. It might be a phone call from an excited operator, an SMS asking you to click a link to claim your prize, a direct message, a post on social media, or an email with instructions on how to get your winnings.
The scammer's goal is to gain access to your personal and/or financial information. They'll do this by asking you to fill in details or to provide banking information to pay an administration fee to receive your windfall.
How can you spot an unexpected money scam?
For these scams to work, the scammers will attempt to provoke a strong emotional reaction from you, in the hopes of clouding your judgment so you'll look past any red flags.
- A call, email, or message coming out of the blue to say you've won, inherited or are entitled to money.
- A sense of time pressure or urgency (the scammer will push you for an immediate response).
- Being asked to reveal personal information (passwords, usernames, PINs, one-time passcodes (OTPs)).
- Being asked to download something or follow a link.
- Being required to pay a small fee (usually administrative or legal) to receive your prize money or inheritance.
Keep your money safe by understanding the types of scams out there.
