I just had a really close call with what I think was a scam. Got a call on a Sunday, private number, guy with a nice London accent saying he was from my bank’s Fraud Detection team. He claimed to have caught two dodgy transactions on my account, one for £735 to Mercedes and another for £9000 to American Express. Both were clearly not mine, so I said as much.
He asked me to check my recent transactions for anything else suspicious, but nothing seemed off… and I didn’t see those declined payments he mentioned either. Then he said they were worried about the safety of my banking app because I hadn’t gotten any alerts. He asked me to approve the declined payment so they could ‘test’ the alert system, and that’s when alarm bells went off in my head.
But here’s the thing, he knew everything. My 16-digit card number, CVV, my address, email, all of it, and I didn’t give him anything.
I’d had real fraud before on a different card with another bank, and in that case, I also couldn’t see the declined transactions right away. I ended up confirming it with the bank later, but it was a stressful process.
This scammer was super convincing. I was close to hitting ‘approve’ just to get it over with, but at the last minute, I stopped. Then he hung up, only to call me again the next day! So yeah, be careful out there. It’s getting tricky to know who’s legit and who’s not.
Just a heads-up to everyone new around here… be careful. If you’re posting about getting scammed, you might start receiving private messages from so-called ‘recovery experts’ or ‘hackers’ offering help for a fee. These are scams too! Always ask for advice in the open, in the comments, where everyone can see and help. If you take advice privately, it’s all on you.
Also, no personal info here, like last names or phone numbers. And let’s be civil, no insults or name-calling. If you spot scammers or anyone breaking the rules, hit the report button. We check everything.
Sounds like someone already has your card details. Probably from a data breach somewhere. Call your bank and get a new card issued ASAP, and make sure they don’t roll over any subscriptions to the new card.
And stop answering unknown numbers, seriously. Just let them go to voicemail.
Are you 100% sure that the other fraud incident wasn’t a scam too?
@oliviamartin
The last one wasn’t a scam exactly, more like low-level card fraud. Some kids tried to buy chicken, pizza, and trainers with my card but got declined. I got notifications on my phone, but the details didn’t show up in the app. The real fraud department confirmed it later, but it was a different bank and card from this latest scam.
Banks and financial institutions are being impersonated more and more, and it’s worrying. If this keeps happening, it could really hurt the fraud protection we rely on.
So here’s a tip: if your bank contacts you out of the blue, hang up immediately. Call them back using the number on your card or statement, not some random number from the internet. Be safe, folks.