You are contacted by telephone by your bank – this is the official number – and at the other end of the line, the person announces himself as your advisor. Be vigilant: this may be a case of “spoofing”, a very elaborate method used by crooks to rob you.
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How come a scammer can call you and your bank number shows up on your phone? This is a process called “spoofing”, which consists of usurping the number of an individual or company to contact third parties and pretend to be someone else. The goal, obviously: to empty the victims’ bank accounts.
For more than a year now, cases of fake banker scams have been increasing in Switzerland and particularly in Geneva. We can no longer count the unfortunate people who have fallen into this trap, often elderly people. Among our French neighbors, the same story: the Valence financial brigade, questioned by “France 3”, alerted today: “It is a very well organized network, which is going viral”.
We learn more about the criminals’ modus operandi via the Vaud cantonal police website: “The scammer poses as a bank employee and informs his victim of an alleged problem with his bank card or his account. The scammer or an accomplice then arranges to meet the victim in order to collect their card and the associated code in order to make fraudulent withdrawals. In some cases, the scammers also ask the victim for cash.
Police advice
- Only share your personal or banking information with people you trust.
- Never give out your PIN codenot even to your bank.
- Entrust your bank card only to people you trust.
- Actively educate older people about these scams. They are in fact particularly targeted.
- Source: votrepolice.ch
If the case described above is a classic, several variations may exist. And the scammers are always more talented: they know how to put their interlocutor at ease, speak “like bankers”, using the appropriate terms and sometimes also know information about their victims, such as their date of birth or their address.
The police further warn: “Be aware that it is possible that you were the victim of phishing before falling victim to a fake banker scam. That is to say that your banking details were stolen before contacting you. After that, the scammers can either use the data to trust you and therefore obtain other information, or they can ask you for payment validation codes if you have authorized double authentication.
How to react?
If you receive a call from your “bank” and you have doubts, one of the solutions is to hang up and contact your bank in turn, to check if it is indeed an employee of the banking establishment that we had on the line.
Finally, police recommend hanging up immediately if a call seems suspicious, especially if the tone is threatening or urgent. But also to act quickly if you have fallen into the net of the fake banker: there is nothing to be ashamed of.
You must therefore call your bank to block your accounts as quickly as possible if you have shared your banking information. Finally, alert the police and file a complaint if you have lost money.
