TL;DR at the bottom.
I thought I was the smart one for not falling for a bank scam. Turns out my money still got taken anyways.
About an hour ago, I got a call while I was on the toilet from what appeared to be my bank from an unverified, unrecognized number. I say unrecognized as I got a call from my bank not too long ago and it was a different number. I had seen that there have been bank fraud calls going around and I thought I was the “victim” of one. I answer the phone, and a lady instantly starts saying how she got off the phone with my mother and that there’s suspected fraud on my account pertaining to some crypto website.
Instantly, I noticed something was wrong; normally when my bank calls, they identify that they’re speaking with me by asking security questions, and THEN go on to explain the issue. So this threw me for a loop and I instantly assumed it was a scam. So, regrettably, I started going off on her. I started demanding her to provide details about myself and my mom if she really does have my account pulled up. She says one moment and stammers, leading me to believe she didn’t even have my account pulled up initially and struggled to find my name, which set off another alarm internally. At this point, I recognized it as a scam. I check my account, and low and behold, no money has been moved. Thus, I promptly called her an asshole and to fuck off and I hung up.
My mom texts me about five minutes later asking why did I hang up on that lady, and that there was suspected fraud on my account. This threw me for a loop, and I explained that I thought it was a scam call and outlined the reasons above. I then check my banking app and that’s when I see ALL of my money has been transferred to a random account.
My heart sank. I profusely apologized to my mother and then called my bank back and explained the situation. After about thirty minutes, the bank filed a dispute and is now working on getting my funds back. The kicker here is that I have bills due in three days. And they said the earliest I would either get my funds or some sort of credit would be ten business days. I don’t get paid until the 11th. I’m already a broke college student. I barely have enough food to last ten days, and maybe enough gas to get me to and from work.
I’m fucked. All because I assumed I was being scammed. I feel like such an idiot and an asshole.
TL;DR I hung up on my banks fraud prevention like an asshole thinking it was a scam. This led to the fraud being approved and all of my money being stolen.
Comments
Not to this extreme outcome but I have had similar reservations about calls like this.
They are trying to ask me security info but I want them to verify info to show they are the actual bank/ credit card. One time, they then offered to send me a “code” to read back as verification. But most codes say never to give them out over the phone! So I didn’t. Ended up at an impasse and we hung up. Later, I found out it was the real company and then had to call them, be placed on hold etc. sigh….
Even if it was a scam, I don’t see the need to yell and cuss at people. It makes you look like a jackass. Even more so if it turns out it isn’t really a scammer. As soon as it starts to sound fishy, calmly tell them, “Your demeanor is inconsistent with how my bank handles these situations. I’m going to end the call.” Then hang up. Simple. If it is a scammer, they know you saw through them. If it isn’t, they know they didn’t follow the appropriate protocols for the situation.
Why the hell was the bank talking to your mother about your account?
Something is fishy with the whole scenario.
How did your mom know about the fraud? The “bank” called you before those charges hit your account. They are not going to authorize a charge that they have flagged as potentially fraudulent without you saying it is legit, so coupled with the whole “unrecognized phone number that skipped all normal security questions” thing…….
IDK I’m not saying your mom stole your money, but I’m not not saying that either. It just doesn’t add up.
Theres a simple way to handle this. The answer to these calls should be: “let me call back using the bank official hotline to verify its not a scam”.
Then while you are calling back, the bank staff knows to wait for your call back before proceeding
The way to handle this type of situation is to politely tell the caller that you will call back to the number listed on the website, credit card, etc to be sure the situation is authentic.
Part of getting old is understanding why grandpa hid cash in the walls even though he was an honest man.
It sounds like your mother was scammed and gave the scammer your information. You likely did speak to a scammer.
Banks have a strict policy and script when they call a customer regarding fraud, and it doesn’t sound like the person calling you followed any kind of policy/script. The most obvious is that they should identify themselves and you before saying anything else.
I was going to say that maybe the bank lady was real and just didn’t have the proper training but… after reading your replies to comments and thinking some more, that was definitely a scammer on the phone who must have gotten your mom first, then somehow got your info as well. Another comment pointed out another thing too that I didn’t think about, but is a really good point… if it was actually the bank, then they would have flagged the transaction and it wouldn’t have gone through without you specifically telling them that it was legit.
Apart from the obvious like calling the real bank asap, you should also FREEZE YOUR CREDIT and tell your family members who also got hit to do the same.
You were right to suspect a scam as it is strange that they mentioned your mother as banks dont like dealing with anyone but the account holder.
Two tricks I’ve learned over the years.
When you get a call from ANY company, ask for the representative’s name, company, and direct extension/line. In my experience, most scammers and spammers will immediately hang up often before you can even finish the question.
When you get a call from ANY company especially financial, simply ask for a reference number and then say you’ll call back via the number on the back of your card or that you’ve otherwise saved elsewhere.
Scams are a common thing, so most banks immediately understand when you’re wary and want to take precautions to protect yourself. The main thing is hang up and immediately call your bank as it could actually be a scammer with your info.
I had a scammer call my wife. He sounded pretty legit, up until he asked for my credit card info. I hung up and called the bank, got their fraud department, and the lady I talked to said that if she calls someone, she encourages people to hang up and call her back on the bank’s main line, to make sure they’re talking to a legit banker. I agree with the others here who say she was the scammer.
I almost fell for a scam recently from Google. I received the wrong item from Amazon and needed to call CS. I googled the number and called it, not thinking “sponsored” was a big deal. They started telling me that someone in TX had my info and ordered a phone, yada yada. I panicked a little bit but stayed calm as I got more info. I didn’t give too much info(only address and phone. My credit is frozen from dealing with ID theft a couple years ago) and everything was going alright until they wanted me to go to my local Walmart to get some gift cards. I hung up immediately and refused to answer any call backs. Amazon would never ask that. I ended up using the text-chat thing on the actual Amazon site itself and reported the number that I had previously called.
I’m NEVER using a “sponsored” number on Google ever again. It could’ve ended much worse…
I’d like to make one point: if the bank calls you, and asks for whatever information you typically provide to prove your identity, it could very well be a scammer collecting the information they need to impersonate you over the phone (i.e. PIN or code phrase).
You certainly need to verify their identity before providing any sensitive data, which is most easily done by you calling them at the number you normally reach them at.
As OP learned, even if you are convinced it’s a scammer, always call your bank yourself. If it was a scammer, they can freeze your account for a few days, and if it wasn’t a scammer they urgently need to talk to you.