Which? show how easy it is to send fake text messages âfrom your bankâ
A recent Which? shoes how easy it is to fake text messages as being from your bank or credit card company. In the report the journalist along with âethical hackerâ Scott Mcgready are able to create and send convincing fake emails that show up alongside genuine text messages from a bank.
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âVictims of such scams are often devastated to learn they wonât get their money back, as by providing their online banking information to the impostor, they are said to have authorised the paymentâ
While the Which report used a customised server to send the fake text messages, there are a plethora of online services that allow you to do exactly the same, some for free.
A number of victims of this type of fraud have already been in contact explaining that they believed the texts to be genuine and followed the link in the message, or called the number and subsequently had money transferred out of their accounts by the fraudsters.
Read the Which? report here: Which? Report
âOne woman received a text message asking whether certain payments from her account were genuine. The text had been âspoofedâ to show it as coming from Santander. She called the number [contained within the text] as she did not recognise the payments given, and was then duped into telling the fraudsters her passcode, which they used to access her accounts and transfer ÂŁ18,000 to another bank. The FOS ruled that Santander need not refund her as it hadnât been responsible for the fraud.â
There is not much you can do at the moment to prevent receiving one of these fake text messages, and thereâs no way of identifying if the sender is genuine, so the advice is to treat ALL such text messages as potentially fake. If the fraudsters have gained access to your address book they could easily fake a text from a contact asking for similar details, you should check the authenticity of all text messages before responding to them.
@CyberProtectUK got a text message saying their bank account was suspended, so they broke down what happens when you click the link!
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Here are a few tips to help you when dealing with potentially fake emails:
- Never assume a text from a company is genuine. Even if itâs in a previously legitimate thread, it could still be a scam.
- Donât click on any links or call any numbers contained within a text message â look up the organisationâs details independently and contact it to verify the message.
- A genuine bank will never contact you asking for your PIN, full password, or to move money to a safe account.
- Avoid giving out your number on publicly available websites or social media profiles.
- Donât respond to or text âSTOPâ to a message if youâre not sure itâs genuine; if itâs a scam, doing so could confirm to the fraudster(s) that your line is âliveâ.
- Spam and suspicious texts can be reported to your network by forwarding them to 7726 and to the regulator by filling in a form at ico.org.uk.
- If youâre conned out of money or tricked into giving away your personal details, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk.
- If youâre scammed, you may not get your money back â the rules on this are complex.
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