A couple lost £53,000 to #vishing fraudsters claiming to be from their bank!
The scammers had called Mr Williams on May 10 and used technology to make the number appear as Santander on the phone.
“It is a scam called spoofing,” said Mr Williams who is from Newbridge. “I wasn’t aware of it. These people are professionals. They are very articulate and well spoken.
“They were able to make my phone come up with Santander’s number. When I worked for BT they didn’t have the technology to do that.
“They told me that £15,000 was being taken out of my account by a Stephen King in Dundee. The said they needed remote access.”
Mr Williams got online and had given them remote access to the account – it was then he became suspicious.
“I said to him that nothing had been taken out of the account and he told me they had been pre-authorised to go out the next morning.
“He said they would have to make a J Williams safe account. I thought this wasn’t right so I rang Santander on my mobile.”
The con artist tried to convince Mr Williams not to call saying “customer service won’t be able to help” and it was his specialist department.
When Mr Williams called Santander they confirmed the call wasn’t from them and said they would call him back.
However the clever fraudsters rang him back immediately – this time it was a woman, claiming to be responding to his call.
Once the money was moved they told Mr Williams they would be sending him new passwords and details.
Once he realised he had been conned Mr Williams called the police and bank. However the audacious criminals then rang he again and tried to get more cash.
#TakeFive: Remember, your bank or the police would never ask you to move money to a safe account! https://t.co/jMZqb1MHeH