How a Tech-Savvy Millennial Was Scammed Over the Phone

There are some horrifying statistics from First Orion's Scam Call Trends and Projection Report from 2019.

• In 2019, roughly 40 percent of all calls in the US were scams.
• By the end of 2019, over 80 percent of all scam calls were using area codes local to the recipient.
• 75% of all scam victims were called by scammers who already had their personal information
• Nearly 1 in 3 people who experienced a loss of at least $1000 thought they were answering a call from a business they knew
• A person is 6x more likely to experience loss when scammers have personal information

Scams are not just for the elderly anymore. While many people know not to fall for the Nigerian prince scam or provide personal information through fake emails phishing for information. But what happens when you receive a call from your own bank?

This is the story of how a tech-savvy millennial was scammed out of thousands of dollars. 

*bank info, locations, and names changed to protect identities 

Patrick Receives a Text

Patrick is a 30-something-year-old male who has worked in the finance field for 15+ years and is familiar with computers and technology. He is the first resource for his parents, family, and in-laws when they are having trouble with their computers or phones. 

Patrick is knowledgeable about scams and shreds his documents before throwing them away. He keeps his passwords unique and secure and never reuses a password on more than one site. He has a complex password on his router and has installed a firewall on his home network. He even goes as far as to use one-time credit card numbers when shopping online to avoid inputting his debit or credit card numbers. 

One night, while having dinner with his family, Patrick receives a text message saying:

"Free MSG: XYZ Bank Fraud Dept. Did you attempt $205.95 at WALMART SUPER CEN? Reply YES or NO. Case 732360606. To Opt-Out reply STOP."

He replies NO as he is sitting at home and hadn't shopped at Walmart that day. 

Patrick Receives a Call

No more than 30 seconds after he sends the NO reply, he gets a call. XYZ Bank displays on his phone's caller ID. They are calling to check on the transaction. They confirm the transaction was attempted in Colorado. They wanted to ensure that Patrick was not traveling since he lives in Washington state. He confirmed with the bank that it wasn't him and that it was a fraudulent charge and his debit card would need to be reissued. 

At this point, he notes that the rep on the other side of the call is handling this well. No broken English, no unnecessary noise in the background, or pauses like they are reading from a script or haven't done this before, which all can be signs of a phone scam.
Patrick double-checked the number they were calling from. After quickly googling the 800 number that called him, he saw that it was XYZ bank's customer service number. Everything seemed legit. 

The scammer on the phone then reassured him that they would help him take care of this and asked his permission to ask a few security questions. Which were all in line with the bank's standard security protocol.

They asked for his mother's maiden name. Patrick answered, and they continued.

"For further verification, do I have permission to send you a one-time code through text message?" This was standard procedure for XYZ bank, and Patrick had done this before, he so didn't see any reason to question it. He gave his permission for them to send the code.

Within a minute, he received the text message, with XYZ Bank's wording and provided the code to the person on the phone. 

The scammer asked politely for him to wait while he reissued the cards on the account. The ep put him on hold with boring music playing.

This was when Patrick took the time to log in to his online banking to make sure no other fraudulent transactions were completed. He couldn't log in with his regular password and noticed a password reset email had been sent just minutes before. 

He quickly changed his password to log in and immediately received three confirmation emails for Zelle transfers that had occurred seconds before. 

When the caller came back on the line, Patrick mentioned the Zelle transfers to him. The person on the phone quickly said, "Okay, let me look into that, hold on," and immediately hung up.

This was when Patrick realized he'd been scammed.

The Aftermath

Patrick immediately called XYZ Bank and reported the fraud. The scammers were able to transfer out a few thousand dollars. His accounts had to be frozen, his debit cards were canceled, and he had to wait for all transactions to clear before the bank could close and reissue the account. 

In the days after this call, Patrick's mortgage payment was returned because the accounts were frozen, his student loan payment returned, and the automatic charges set up to go through his debit card were declined.

It took over a week to get everything reissued. Patrick was given credit for the money stolen and is waiting for the bank to confirm fraud so he can provide that letter to get all of his return check fees/late fees back.

This one call came from XYZ Bank's spoofed number and lasted only minutes, yet yielded the scammer thousands of dollars. Now it is up to the bank to replace that money, and it is up to Patrick to clean up the mess left in their wake. 

The lesson was learned. Don't let your bank call you. Hang up the phone and call them even if your caller id displays their number. It can easily be faked. The minute it takes to reach the bank back may save you weeks worth of grief and embarrassment. 

Share your online or phone scam stories below!

Like this article? Follow me for more!

...

Follow