Police are warning members of the public to be alert to phone calls from criminals who claim to be working for banks. The fraudsters frighten victims into believing their bank accounts have been hacked – and then persuade them to transfer their savings into new ‘safe’ accounts.
The fraud works like this:
A phone call is received from a male pretending to be from their bank’s Fraud Department. He informs the victim that there has been suspicious activity on their bank account and asks them to call the helpline telephone number on the back of their bank card in order to verify his position at the bank.
The alarmed victim does this – but unbeknown to him/her, the caller keeps the telephone line open (there will be no dial tone). The phone call is then ‘answered’ by a female and she was then ‘transfers’ the victim over to another male who claims to work in the bank’s Fraud Department.
He advises the victim that that their finances are at risk of fraud and they must transfer their money into ‘safe accounts’ immediately; he then manipulates the unsuspecting victim into transferring their savings into these new ‘safe accounts’.
A call of this nature is upsetting, and that’s what the fraudsters rely on – they stress the urgency of the need to act NOW to protect your funds and they don’t give victims the time to think.
If you have even the slightest of concerns or are suspicious in any way, hang up and use a mobile phone to call your bank – always call back from a different phone.
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Reblogged this on Omaha News & World Report.