- Scammers are pretending to be bank’s fraud department
- Midwife Ann Akinwale struggled financially after being scammed.
- We issued three pieces of key advice to prevent scam
Scammers are increasingly pretending to be banks’ fraud departments in order to panic customers into transferring them funds.
National Fraud Helpline solicitors says scammers are playing on the fact that victims are busy at work and hassle them into making instant decisions that sees them lose thousands of pounds.
The con typically involves the fraudster mimicking a bank’s real phone number and then telling the victim their account has been compromised and that they must transfer all of the money out to prevent it from being stolen.
A hard-working community midwife lost £2,000 to scammers posing as her bank after she panicked when they called her while she was on duty.
Ann Akinwale, from Basildon, had just finished dealing with a patient when she received a call from what she thought was the Halifax Bank, who told her someone was trying to take money from her account.
She was keen to help raise awareness of the issue to help other people falling victim to the bank fraud department scam.
National Fraud Helpline is helping her to recover her money.
“At the time I was overwhelmed by the workload, and was dealing with a case with safeguarding issues,” she said, “so I was still trying to get my head round what the woman had said.
“So when I got that call I wasn’t in the right state of mind, and I just panicked.”
The scammers cloned a genuine Halifax phone number, and gave Mrs Akinwale enough information about her account to convince her the call was genuine.
The 41-year-old said: “They said there was somebody trying to transfer money from my account, and I need to transfer my money to another account to keep it safe.
“I was so anxious, and I’ve ever been a victim of a scam before so I didn’t know any better.
After transferring £2,000 to the account details she was given, her Halifax account plunged nearly £650 into the red.
Soon after, she received a text message from Halifax about the transaction, asking her to call the bank who informed her she had been scammed.
Now mum-of-one Mrs Akinwale has enlisted the help of National Fraud Helpline solicitors to try to recover her money from the bank, which they say has a duty of care to protect customers from scams.
National Fraud Helpline solicitors, a trading name of Richardson Hartley Law, has issued three key pieces of advice to help prevent customers from falling victim to the scam:
- Be aware that a bank will never ask you to transfer money from your account to keep your funds safe
- Insist on calling a bank back on an official telephone number you find on its website
- Never be rushed into a decision and ask a family member or friend for advice.
Fiona Bresnen, a lawyer at National Fraud Helpline solicitors, said: ‘We are seeing more of these scams from fraudsters pretending to be from a bank’s fraud department.They play on the fact that a victim will be panicked and make a rash decision.
‘We are determined to get Mrs Akinwale’s money back for her.’
The story has appeared in a variety of publications.
We have issued previous warnings about the bank fraud department scam.
Have you lost money to a scam? Contact National Fraud Helpline. Call 0333 0033218 or fill out our Claim Form.