This scam starts with a robocall, in other words: an automated call. A robotic voice announces that a large financial transaction has been made to your PayPal or bank account. She then asks you to press 1 or 2. Once the victim has pressed 2, the trap closes.
This scam starts with a strange phone call. A Belgian number or a private number appears on the screen of your smartphone. When you answer, you are not in contact with a human being, but with a robotic voice which presents itself as the representative of an institution (PayPal, bank, police, etc.). This is a robocall, that is to say an automated call, as explained Safeonweb.
This robotic voice, with which it is impossible to interact, then warns you of a problematic situation: a large transaction has been spotted on your PayPal account or on your bank account. The robotic voice then suggests pressing 1 if you are the author of this transaction or pressing 2 if this is not the case.
Of course, the person receiving this type of call probably hasn’t made a transfer of several hundred euros via PayPal. She will then be tempted to click on 2 to cancel this (false) transaction.
Now we come to the second step of this scam: the current call is redirected. This time, it’s no longer a robotic voice, but a real person on the other end of the line. The latter will then attempt to extract personal data from the victim by claiming in particular that it is necessary to make a transfer in order to cancel the (fictitious) PayPal payment. In some cases, the perpetrator of this scam will even try to access your bank accounts.
This scam is particularly pernicious given that some reliable companies and institutions use robocalls to automate their administrative tasks. The target of this type of scam may therefore think that they are dealing with a completely safe call.
In any case, if a robotic voice tells you that a PayPal transfer has been made in your name, do not provide any credit. We can’t repeat it enough: under no circumstances give out your banking information over the phone. If you have any doubts, go directly to the official PayPal website or to your bank branch.
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