14 DAY TRIAL // Yorkshire Bank has issued an alert to warn customers about telephone scams. Phone scams are not new, but the scheme described by the financial institution is clever and a lot of people could fall victim if they’re not careful.
The scammers call up the potential victim on a landline and inform them that fraudulent activity has been detected on their accounts. They will ask the target to confirm some basic details and urge them to call the bank or the credit card provider.
The trick is that when the victim hangs up, the fraudster doesn’t. On landlines, the call isn’t disconnected when only the recipient hangs up.
When the victim picks up the phone and dials the number of the bank, the scammer is still on the other end of the line and will pretend to be a bank representative.
This is the point where they start asking for more sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, PINs, and data from multi-factor authentication tools.
In some cases, since there is no dial tone when the victim picks up the phone to call the bank, the con artists play recordings of a dial tone to give the impression that a new line has connected.
“Banks and card providers may, from time to time, call you about possible fraud on your account but they will not ask for all your security details, the PIN for your card for example,” Yorkshire bank warns.
The bank advises customers to be suspicious of all cold calls and take a moment to think if the story sounds legitimate.
Also, users are advised never to divulge credit card information – such as PIN or security code –, or the details from multi-factor authentication tools.
Finally, if you doubt that the phone call genuinely comes from the bank, hang up and call up the organization from a different landline or mobile phone. However, be sure to use contact details provided on the bank’s website, not ones given by the caller.