Tag Archives: debit card

The Bank Transfer Scam

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Dear tellows friends,

Bank transfer fraud happens more often than you can imagine. Fraudsters imitate various offial organisations, including banks, to persuade you to move money out of your account and into their hands.

Scammers use manipulative methods to panic real people into handing over their money and details. Perhaps you receive a call or text telling you that your account has been ‘compromised’ and you need to move your money somewhere ‘secure’. Maybe you have to click a link inside a text message or email and log in to your online banking account to stop a transaction. Of course such messages are more often than not fraudulent, but they can look very realistic. Links in text messages may take you to a spoofed albeit realistic version of your bank’s website, making the fraud almost more believable.

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No More Nuisance Calls: The False Promises of Scammers

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As most of our tellows users know all too well, incessant calls from telemarketers or call centres have become a genuine nuisance. Thus, services to put a stop to these type of unsolicited calls enjoy increasing popularity. Aside from apps such as the tellows app to detect spam and scam calls, there is the option to register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to prevent unwanted and cold calls.

A Scam Claiming to Stop Spam
However, not all service provider are trustworthy: some fraudsters try to take advantage of the fact that many consumers are plagued by unsolicited calls. The police advise to be extremely cautious of callers claiming to provide services to prevent unwanted calls. Claiming to be aware of the fact that you have been bothered by numerous unsolicited calls recently, the caller attempts to offer information and appliances in order to stop the calls.

In some instances, the caller may even know some personal information such as your address, the bank you use or your credit/debit card number. Some of our tellows users have made similar experiences as Betty Sinclair, who allocated the number 07825874525 to BT, who reported:

Unknown number sent numerous messages, knew details about myself which unnerved me.

Generally, the purpose of the call is to obtain further information regarding your credit/debit card such as the issue or expiry date, account number, security code, to access your credit card account or use for identity theft.

Recognizing and Dealing with the Scammers
Sometimes even seemingly insignificant details can be a clue that you are targeted by scammers. Therefore you should be wary, how the caller identifies him- or herself: even though the scammers often claim to be calling from BT directly, only BT Privacy at Home offers the telephone preference service. Similarly, user spammed, who commented on the number 01274802868, noticed:

The caller said they were calling from British Telecom. As a former worker for BT they stopped calling themselves British Telecom back in the early 90s.

To avoid falling a victim to these types of scams, you should never give bank or personal details on the telephone, especially if you have doubts about the legitimacy of the call. If the caller claims to be from your bank, phone them on the number that you normally use or know to be legitimate to confirm that the call you receive was genuine.

Furthermore, you should be aware that if you receive unsolicited calls in spite of being registered at TPS, the calls are probably scam calls as well. User Paula, for instance, wrote about the number 00443562780913:

The person who called, spoke English with an accent, said she was not trying to sell anything but merely conducting a survey. She seemed to know both my name and when I asked her how they have these information, since I’m registered with TPS, she got evasive and asked if I could just answer her some questions.

In case you have provided personal and financial information to what you suspect to be scammers, you may contact your bank and, if necessary, ask them to issue a new credit/debit card. Moreover, you can report the scammers to the police at Action Fraud as well as on tellows to warn others who may be contacted by the scammers.

Source:
Chester Chronicle

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UK – world’s most phished country in 2012

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According to the world renowned cyber experts RSA, in 2012 UK consumers lost more money to online fraud than any other country. The RSA Anti-Fraud Command Centre (AFCC) released figures of a £405.8m loss in the UK for 2012 which was gained from 250 000 phishing attacks.
For the UK, this resulted in a 25% increase from 2011. The top five countries, which have a significant English speaking population, are as follows. US are second even though there loss was a decline of 19%. Canada, India and South Africa make up the rest.

An annual lost to the UK through cybercrime was estimated at £27bn by Detica-BAE Systems. From this £27bn, £21bn is believed to come from businesses.

The cost to consumers is equally catastrophic. Detica believes that a total figure of £3.1bn has a more encompassing scope than RSA. Fake antivirus packages and ‘scareware’ cost the consumer around £30m.

However, one must use caution when using estimations of cost as previous usages have been exaggerated wildly. However the RSA’s figures are based on attacks detected and dealt with by its AFCC. The attacks are then given the value of $300 per attack as this is the average from 8 years of operations, with 500 000 incidents tackled in this time. Detica’s totals use analysis from 25 industrial sectors and consultation with five British government agencies.

Due to the widespread use of chip-and-pin technology and other multi-factor authentication, the UK population are less at risk than those in the US.

Limor Kessem, Technical Lead of Knowledge Delivery at RSA believes that the UK are targeted due to an increase in technology for the average person. She said “The problem with the UK is that more people use the internet, more people have technology”.
The Office for National Statistics released figures last week that show that 84.7% of the UK public have used the internet at least once. In comparison, the US has a figure of 77.9%. In addition, the UK has the most usage for internet access from mobiles which increases the risk of attack.

New tactics are constantly being evolved by potential fraudsters to rid you of your money. For example, online fraudsters often require an individual, or an ‘insider’, to reside in the country of the target. This is in case attendance at a bank is required and in this sense the fraudster can impersonate the target. “It’s partly because of the accent. You have to sound like a local if you really want to make sure the transaction goes through”, said Kessem.

Highlighted in a 2012 UK Cards Association report on payment fraud were methods that a potential fraudster might carry out in-branch. The theft of a card at an ATM, or tricking individuals into revealing their card and PIN by posing as a telephone salesperson have been used in the past.

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Beware: Fraudulent Sky Callers Want Your Bank Details!

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Were are back again to bring you the latest news on a new fraud method circulating in the UK. Scammers pretending to work for SKY TV or companies related to SKY are calling (former) sky customers, claiming their package had to be renewed or their bills had not been paid. Watch out! It might sound logical in the first place, but all these fraudsters want is to get your bank details!
We are talking namely about the following numbers:

The caller pretends to be an employee of SKY TV or a company installing the gear for SKY. All calls show a similar structure: first you will be confronted with some financial matter. Either you have not payed your SKY fee or you are paying too much and should get money back. Second part: you will be asked for your details.

We provide some simple advices how you notice that this is a scam call

  • Never ever tell anybody your credit card details during a cold call, nor give any other personal information like your name or address. The caller should have at least your address, if it really is a legitimate company calling you. Ask for the information they got on you!
  • Ask the caller for her/his name, job title, company and telephone number
  • Write down the telephone number and report it to tellows.co.uk
  • Keep in mind that legitimate companies do contracts in a written way and never ask for personal details and financial matters on the phone

Source:

Yours,

Team Tellows

Read more on the topic in our press release.

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UKBA scammers try to sqeeze money from immigrants

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There is a new scam that especially affects foreigners (mostly students). There are two reported telephone numbers connected this case:

The caller pretends to be an employee of the UKBA (United Kingdom Border Agency). All calls show the same structure. The fraudster will tell you that there is a problem with your immigration status or your visa and that you’ll have to pay a fine. You’ll be advised to give him your credit card / debit card details or directly make a Western Union payment to settle the issue as easy as possible to prevent the UKBA from taking further steps against you. To convince you of his authenticity the dubious employee may tell you some personal information about yourself like your passport number or your telephone number. One victim even reported that he was called concerning one of his relatives. If you refuse to cooperate the caller will most probably try to put pressure on you with deportation threats and other tricks.

We provide some simple tips that you can rely on

  • do never ever tell someone your credit card details during a cold call
  • nor give any other personal information like your name or address
  • instead ask the fraudster for his name, job title and telephone number
  • note down the telephone number and report it on tellows.co.uk

Sources:
http://ljmu.ac.uk/NewsUpdate/index_124039.htm
http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/

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