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I'm not really sure where else to post this, but I figured it's crime related so this thread will do...
I can usually smell a scam from a mile away.
Yesterday morning while I was dealing with something (unrelated) urgent, I received a text message from Bendigo Bank alerting me to suspicious activity on my account. The text message included a direct link to the Bendigo website. Most likely because I had other things on my mind, I clicked on the link.
The link took me to the Bendigo log in page - a page I am very familiar with that I use almost on a daily basis. Feeling anxious about the possibility of unauthorised transaction(s) linked to my account, I entered my login details.
After logging in, it took me to a page where it asked me to approve or disapprove a $4,000 pending transaction. I disapproved of the transaction and a pop up box acknowledged my selection and asked me to confirm my details for security purposes. I provided my name, DOB and phone number. I know others will be reading this thinking I was stupid and foolish, and I'm OK with that. Let's be honest, I'd be thinking the same thing if I was reading this post from another author.
About 20 minutes later, I received a phone call from a bloke with an Irish accent explaining he was from the Bendigo bank security team. He addressed me by my full name and he wanted to know if I had a large pending transaction on my account because he suspects my account may be compromised. He wanted to know if I had received a text message with a link. I told him I had received and opened the link - I told him everything I had done after clicking on the link.
The bloke told me that Bendigo bank will never send me a text message with a link, and 9/10 times if I receive a text message with a link, it's a scram. He referred to this as a 'fishing' scam.
He said the pending transaction is from Spain. He wanted to know if I was holidaying there. He said it was linked to a bloke named 'Muhammed'. He wanted to confirm if I was in Spain or if I know someone by that name. He then explained that it doesn't appear as though any money has been taken from my account and he was going to help cancel my online banking account and set up a new online account because someone had gained unauthorised access to my account.
Even though he was saying all the right (convincing) things, I was a bit skeptical at this stage, and I mentioned that to him.
He then told me to grab a pen and write down his name. He spelled his name out in full. He then told me he'd provide me with a reference number for the phone call - he provided this. He then provided me with details of my most recent pending transactions (small transactions I was responsible for). This only strengthened my thoughts that it may have been a genuine phone call after all.
He then said he is going to go right ahead and immediately cancel my current online account and set up a new one. This is the sort of content you'd expect to hear from someone in security if your account really has been compromised, so my level of skepticism began to lower.
He then told me in order to finalise the new online banking account, he'd need me to provide my VIP access code. This is when alarm bells started ringing. I started thinking why on Earth would he be asking for that? I knew this is something a bank wouldn't ask for, nor would they require.
At this stage I told him, "I don't mean any disrespect to you, but I am still a bit skeptical so what I'll be doing is hanging up and calling Bendigo Bank directly, and at least that way I can be satisfied that I am speaking to someone from Bendigo."
He responded, "I understand. That's perfectly fine. Just be aware that we are quite busy and you could be on hold for over an hour, and if someone was to access your online banking in that time, any transactions won't be able to be cancelled or reversed."
Hearing that at the time my immediate thoughts were he is trying to encourage me to provide my VIP access code (this is a two way security feature for those unaware). Having had even more time to now reflect on that, if my account really had been compromised, obviously the Bank would put immediate measures in place to cancel my account immediately to prevent unauthorised access.
I hung up the phone and went into my branch and explained everything to the teller. She agreed it was a scam, a sophisticated one at that, and she confirmed the contact name and reference number I was provided to be bogus. She said she hadn't come across an elaborate scam like that before.
I'm pretty annoyed at myself for having clicked on that link to start with. Any other day, if I wasn't busy dealing with other urgent matters, I'd have had time to contact Bendigo Bank myself. I didn't have time to call them and I panicked thinking if I didn't act quickly enough I could be in some trouble.
Thankfully I still had some level of common sense not to provide my VIP access code otherwise that would have been curtains. Even though someone had clearly gained access to my online transactions, I haven't lost any money and the bank put immediate measures in place to prevent my account from being compromised.
I can usually smell a scam from a mile away.
Yesterday morning while I was dealing with something (unrelated) urgent, I received a text message from Bendigo Bank alerting me to suspicious activity on my account. The text message included a direct link to the Bendigo website. Most likely because I had other things on my mind, I clicked on the link.
The link took me to the Bendigo log in page - a page I am very familiar with that I use almost on a daily basis. Feeling anxious about the possibility of unauthorised transaction(s) linked to my account, I entered my login details.
After logging in, it took me to a page where it asked me to approve or disapprove a $4,000 pending transaction. I disapproved of the transaction and a pop up box acknowledged my selection and asked me to confirm my details for security purposes. I provided my name, DOB and phone number. I know others will be reading this thinking I was stupid and foolish, and I'm OK with that. Let's be honest, I'd be thinking the same thing if I was reading this post from another author.
About 20 minutes later, I received a phone call from a bloke with an Irish accent explaining he was from the Bendigo bank security team. He addressed me by my full name and he wanted to know if I had a large pending transaction on my account because he suspects my account may be compromised. He wanted to know if I had received a text message with a link. I told him I had received and opened the link - I told him everything I had done after clicking on the link.
The bloke told me that Bendigo bank will never send me a text message with a link, and 9/10 times if I receive a text message with a link, it's a scram. He referred to this as a 'fishing' scam.
He said the pending transaction is from Spain. He wanted to know if I was holidaying there. He said it was linked to a bloke named 'Muhammed'. He wanted to confirm if I was in Spain or if I know someone by that name. He then explained that it doesn't appear as though any money has been taken from my account and he was going to help cancel my online banking account and set up a new online account because someone had gained unauthorised access to my account.
Even though he was saying all the right (convincing) things, I was a bit skeptical at this stage, and I mentioned that to him.
He then told me to grab a pen and write down his name. He spelled his name out in full. He then told me he'd provide me with a reference number for the phone call - he provided this. He then provided me with details of my most recent pending transactions (small transactions I was responsible for). This only strengthened my thoughts that it may have been a genuine phone call after all.
He then said he is going to go right ahead and immediately cancel my current online account and set up a new one. This is the sort of content you'd expect to hear from someone in security if your account really has been compromised, so my level of skepticism began to lower.
He then told me in order to finalise the new online banking account, he'd need me to provide my VIP access code. This is when alarm bells started ringing. I started thinking why on Earth would he be asking for that? I knew this is something a bank wouldn't ask for, nor would they require.
At this stage I told him, "I don't mean any disrespect to you, but I am still a bit skeptical so what I'll be doing is hanging up and calling Bendigo Bank directly, and at least that way I can be satisfied that I am speaking to someone from Bendigo."
He responded, "I understand. That's perfectly fine. Just be aware that we are quite busy and you could be on hold for over an hour, and if someone was to access your online banking in that time, any transactions won't be able to be cancelled or reversed."
Hearing that at the time my immediate thoughts were he is trying to encourage me to provide my VIP access code (this is a two way security feature for those unaware). Having had even more time to now reflect on that, if my account really had been compromised, obviously the Bank would put immediate measures in place to cancel my account immediately to prevent unauthorised access.
I hung up the phone and went into my branch and explained everything to the teller. She agreed it was a scam, a sophisticated one at that, and she confirmed the contact name and reference number I was provided to be bogus. She said she hadn't come across an elaborate scam like that before.
I'm pretty annoyed at myself for having clicked on that link to start with. Any other day, if I wasn't busy dealing with other urgent matters, I'd have had time to contact Bendigo Bank myself. I didn't have time to call them and I panicked thinking if I didn't act quickly enough I could be in some trouble.
Thankfully I still had some level of common sense not to provide my VIP access code otherwise that would have been curtains. Even though someone had clearly gained access to my online transactions, I haven't lost any money and the bank put immediate measures in place to prevent my account from being compromised.