Yahoo Finance Aussie woman $2,500 out-of-pocket after split second mistake: 'Stupid'
She says she felt 'extremely stupid' after falling for the scam but now wants to help others avoid it.
An Aussie woman felt “extremely stupid” after losing $2,500 in a phone scam. But, she is now revealing the red flags she ignored so others don't make the same mistake.
Taylor told Yahoo Finance the first was not going with her gut and hanging up immediately on the unknown number. The man on the line claimed to be from Virgin Money.
He told her there’d been fraudulent activity on her account but he could cancel the transactions if she was able to read out a one-time passcode that he was about to send through to her.
This is where he got her.
The text message came from the same number and in the same thread as previous messages she had with the company.
It wasn’t until after Taylor had read out the one-time passcode that she realised it was to approve a $2,500 purchase and that she’d been scammed.
“It made me feel extremely stupid that I fell for something like this,” she told Yahoo Finance.
“I’ve not heard of this happening before. If I was more educated on the matter, perhaps it could’ve been prevented.”
Are scammers getting more sophisticated?
Taylor initially issued a warning about "crafty" scammers and how they are getting away with it.
“The worst thing is, they're posing as the bank, and can somehow source technology that sends a text message from the same number that the bank sends it from,” she said.
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But now she’s not so sure.
“After reflecting back, I realise the scammer would’ve been trying to complete a transaction on my card and Virgin Money themselves messaged me to confirm it was correct,” she told Yahoo Finance.
However, experts have warned scammers can message customers from a number that looks like their bank’s.
“Scammers use technology to make it appear that a message or call is from a trusted source,” a spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission told Yahoo Finance.
“They can use the SMS Sender ID (alphatag) of trusted businesses, such as banks, which will make the message appear in the same message chain as any other messages received from the business.”
In fact, in 2023, the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Scamwatch service received more than 6,800 reports of bank impersonation scams, resulting in losses of about $18 million.
Scams about to ramp up
With tax season upon us, Dr Kam-Fung Cheung, a lecturer at UNSW Business School, warns more scammers will be hoping to take advantage of workers.
“Because we are in the tax season, probably some of them will say, I'm from the Australian Taxation Office and we have some transactions or some illegal activities that may trigger a ban of your Tax File Number,” he told Yahoo Finance.
“So I think this will be another phase that we are going to see in the coming months.”
In a warning to customers, at all times of year, he urged people not to answer unknown numbers, and that if they’re told they have suspicious activity on their account, to always check their transaction history first.
“Also, if they ask you for a passcode or some other personal information, just hang up and verify if they’re a true caller,” he said.
“The key is to verify who is the sender of the message.”
What about Taylor’s money?
Taylor is currently out of pocket while a dispute investigation is undertaken by Virgin Money.
Her card has been cancelled but it can take six to eight weeks for them to work out if she will get her money back.
She may not as she read out the one-time passcode to the scammer.
“Please be very careful,” she said. “If it’s an unknown number, just hang up and call the bank back.
“I wish I would have done that, because now I wouldn’t be so stressed about whether I am going to get this money back or not.”
What should I do if I think I’ve been scammed?
Contact your bank and report the scam. Ask them to stop transactions and stop sending any money.
Report the scam to Scamwatch here and make an official complaint to police here.
Watch out for follow up scams, particularly ones promising they can get your money back. Scamwatch warned one in three victims of a scam are scammed more than once.
Lastly, get support for yourself. You can talk to a financial counsellor or reach out to BeyondBlue on 1300 22 4636 or here for an online chat or Lifeline for crisis support online here on 13 11 14.
You can also contact IDCARE to “reduce the harm they experience from the compromise and misuse of their identity information by providing effective response and mitigation”.
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