BEWARE: Woman falls prey to a sophisticated bank text scam and loses life savings
- Replies 30
In an era where technology is at the forefront of our daily lives, it's easy to fall prey to sophisticated scams.
One such incident involved Suni Wan, a woman who lost her life savings to a text scam that appeared to be from her bank, HSBC.
Suni Wan's day started like any other until she received a text message from HSBC alerting her to fraudulent activity on her account.
The message seemed legitimate, appearing in the same thread where she usually received messages from her bank.
It informed her that a new device had logged into her account and urged her to call back immediately if it wasn't her.
The device in question was an S8, a Samsung phone model that Suni had previously owned.
Fearing that someone had gotten hold of her old phone and was attempting to access her bank account, she promptly called the number provided in the text.
The person on the other end of the line, posing as a bank representative, asked for her personal information, including her name, address, and date of birth.
They also requested a one-time passcode to resolve the issue.
Suni, eager to protect her account, complied.
'Then he said there’s been some unusual activities, and he put me on hold for quite a while,' Suni recalled.
However, when the supposed bank representative began asking about her cryptocurrency account Coinspot, Suni grew suspicious.
'It finally clicked to me, why would HSBC be concerned about my Coinspot, they wouldn’t pass my details to a representative they would tell me to call Coinspot directly,' she added.
By the time Suni contacted HSBC to freeze her account, it was too late.
The scammers had already siphoned off $49,000.
'The hardest thing for me is to stop blaming myself like I keep blaming myself. Maybe I should have noticed it earlier.'
HSBC, in response to the incident, said: 'For customer confidentiality reasons, we can’t discuss specific customer situations.'
'HSBC takes customer security very seriously, and we thoroughly investigate any reported cases of scam or fraud.'
They also warned customers about 'text spoofing', where fraudsters deliberately falsify telephone numbers of legitimate organisations to make it seem like victims have received a legitimate text from their banks.
'Scam text messages can even appear in the same message chain as real messages from the organisation, making them even harder to spot.'
HSBC emphasised that they will never ask customers to provide their PINs, passwords or verification codes on a phone call in response to a text message or email.
'Bank customers need to be vigilant about the risk of scams and are reminded to never give out bank codes or passwords.'
In similar news, one couple lost their entire life savings worth $100,000 after they followed the lead of a fraudster pretending to be a Westpac employee.
It all began when the man received a seemingly legitimate text from Uber asking him to update his bank details. But little did he know, this was only the first step in a sinister plan.
An hour and a half later, he received another text from the same Westpac line he had been contacted on before, warning him that scammers were trying to take $5,500 from his account.
In a state of alarm and uncertainty, Green hurriedly called the security number included in the text.
He spoke to a person pretending to be a trustworthy Westpac employee and was convinced that he was doing the right thing when he began to transfer his money into a new account created by the said representative.
You can read more about this scam here.
Have you ever received a suspicious text message or fallen victim to a scam? Share your experiences and tips for avoiding scams in the comments below.
One such incident involved Suni Wan, a woman who lost her life savings to a text scam that appeared to be from her bank, HSBC.
Suni Wan's day started like any other until she received a text message from HSBC alerting her to fraudulent activity on her account.
The message seemed legitimate, appearing in the same thread where she usually received messages from her bank.
A woman fell prey to a text scam that she believed was from her bank. Image source: HSBC Australia.
It informed her that a new device had logged into her account and urged her to call back immediately if it wasn't her.
The device in question was an S8, a Samsung phone model that Suni had previously owned.
Fearing that someone had gotten hold of her old phone and was attempting to access her bank account, she promptly called the number provided in the text.
The person on the other end of the line, posing as a bank representative, asked for her personal information, including her name, address, and date of birth.
They also requested a one-time passcode to resolve the issue.
Suni, eager to protect her account, complied.
'Then he said there’s been some unusual activities, and he put me on hold for quite a while,' Suni recalled.
However, when the supposed bank representative began asking about her cryptocurrency account Coinspot, Suni grew suspicious.
'It finally clicked to me, why would HSBC be concerned about my Coinspot, they wouldn’t pass my details to a representative they would tell me to call Coinspot directly,' she added.
By the time Suni contacted HSBC to freeze her account, it was too late.
The scammers had already siphoned off $49,000.
'The hardest thing for me is to stop blaming myself like I keep blaming myself. Maybe I should have noticed it earlier.'
HSBC, in response to the incident, said: 'For customer confidentiality reasons, we can’t discuss specific customer situations.'
'HSBC takes customer security very seriously, and we thoroughly investigate any reported cases of scam or fraud.'
They also warned customers about 'text spoofing', where fraudsters deliberately falsify telephone numbers of legitimate organisations to make it seem like victims have received a legitimate text from their banks.
'Scam text messages can even appear in the same message chain as real messages from the organisation, making them even harder to spot.'
HSBC emphasised that they will never ask customers to provide their PINs, passwords or verification codes on a phone call in response to a text message or email.
'Bank customers need to be vigilant about the risk of scams and are reminded to never give out bank codes or passwords.'
In similar news, one couple lost their entire life savings worth $100,000 after they followed the lead of a fraudster pretending to be a Westpac employee.
It all began when the man received a seemingly legitimate text from Uber asking him to update his bank details. But little did he know, this was only the first step in a sinister plan.
An hour and a half later, he received another text from the same Westpac line he had been contacted on before, warning him that scammers were trying to take $5,500 from his account.
In a state of alarm and uncertainty, Green hurriedly called the security number included in the text.
He spoke to a person pretending to be a trustworthy Westpac employee and was convinced that he was doing the right thing when he began to transfer his money into a new account created by the said representative.
You can read more about this scam here.
.png){kind=icon}
