Grandmother loses all her money in new internet banking scam
15 Jul 2017
An elderly lady lost all her money in a new internet banking scam, emerging the risk posed by internte scamsters.
The elderly victim from Manchester received a debit card reader in the post followed by a call from someone pretending to be from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
She was asked by the fraudster if she needed the card reader and when she declined she was told that he just needed her card details and other personal data to disable it.
Her bank account, which also contained savings for her grandchild, was emptied later that day.
The reader came with an official looking letter from RBS, which convinced her that it was genuine
The victim's friend shared photographs of the card reader on Facebook, which was shared over 50,000 times, called on people to be careful of the targeted scam.
She wrote, "One of my ladies received this digital card reader in the post two weeks ago from The Royal Bank of Scotland with the enclosed letter. She left it to one side as being elderly she wasn't interested in it.
"Two days ago she had a phone call from the bank asking if she received it. She said she had but was taking it back to the bank as she didn't want it. The 'very nice man' told her she didn't have to do that he can cancel it for her and told her to put her card and number in to do this.
"The next day she went to the bank for a statement and yes you can guess so every penny had been took out of her account including savings for her granddaughters.
"She was devastated and the worst of it is SHE felt foolish and ashamed. I reassured her these scammers are very good at it. Luckily she got her money back but apparently this is a new digital system coming out now so please make your contacts aware of this as it looks very genuine."
According to commentators, the bank appeared to have refunded the cash but warned customers to be wary of the scam. The bank also said they would never call and ask for personal details like account details, card details or codes.