It’s a bit like a snake biting its own tail. Fake bank advisers have been infuriated for several weeks with victims by trying to make them believe their bank account has been hacked. These scammers present themselves as specialized fraud advisers, supposedly on behalf of the clients’ banks.
During the call, the scammer indicates that the bank account was obviously hacked. In the case of Gaëlle, interviewed by BFMTV, this would follow, for example, “the validation of a new Netflix subscription”. Something that the young woman actually realized a few days before.
Up to 80,000 euros in damages
To perfect the scam, these fake bank advisers have a lot of real information, such as name, address, and certain bank details. Data that may be, in particular, the result of hacks. To counteract these alleged fraudulent account movements, the scammer requests multiple transactions. For Gaëlle, the damage suffered is 3,000 euros, but for some victims, it can go much higher.
Because the young woman understands during the day that she has been the victim of a scam and decides to call the scammer again, who admits on his own having extorted 80,000 euros from the same person on occasions. “You’re lucky because I’ve already taken 50,000, 80,000 euros in less than 24 hours with just one person,” admits the man on the other end of the line.
A government site now allows victims of this type of scam to come forward and find solutions to resolve these sometimes complex situations. “Banks generally refuse to reimburse victims, knowing that it is still up to them to prove that there is gross negligence on the part of the victim to refuse this reimbursement,” explains Jérôme Notin, CEO of cybermalveillance .gouv.fr. Proof of this is the multiplication of these scams: the site is consulted by several hundred people every day.
Source: BFM TV
