A member of the Neighbourhood Watch reports what has all the hallmarks of yet another scam to gain access to a bank account. This particular scam features a spoofed local (01777) telephone number. Our member wrote to inform us as follows:
“We had an automated phone call this morning about unusual activity on our bank account including a big payment to Amazon. Press 1 to find out more Etc. This is not unusual for us and we just ignore such calls. However this call was from a Retford number 748152. We tried ringing it and got a message saying it was an unused number but inviting us to ring an 0871 number, (0871 numbers are premium rate numbers with the rate set by the owner of the number) 9189188 to find out more. We have not done so, but wondered if you were aware of this. We assume it is a scam. Coincidentally my wife was on Amazon at the time, so we wonder if her Amazon login is compromised.”
Subsequent to this attempt our member has had two more calls referencing different local numbers and has checked with their bank. This is deemed to be a scam attempt.
Our member exercised caution and doubtless averted a sophisticated attempt to defraud. In such circumstances if you are approached about activity on your bank account we suggest you put the phone down and either visit the bank (if there is still a local branch!) or phone, ideally from another phone, your bank using the number on the back of your debit card or the number from your statements to report the phonecall.
If using the internet then in order to keep fraudsters at bay we suggest that you ensure that you are running the latest update of the operating system (OS) and that your virus protection on your PC or Mac computer is up to date. You will probably be aware that Apple suffered a recent breach of their OS so Macs are also vulnerable. Most tablets are automatically updated and have significant security and privacy protections (if selected!). A cautionary approach when buying anything online, whether Amazon or not is to be recommended.
If you feel that your logins are compromised we suggest resetting passwords using a Password Manager using passwords of 12 characters or more. Perhaps also time to think about using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect your privacy and identity. https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-privacy-what-is-a-vpn.html#
Thanks are due to our member for sharing.