Victim of a well-known scam, Léo escaped the worst… He tells us what “saved” him (within a few euros) and how he avoided having more than 1000 euros stolen.
Léo is a teacher, in his forties and father of a three-year-old girl. While he was on vacation and had a fine to pay, he received an “Antai” text message, the one that many of us have already read on our cell phone. “In haste and without dwelling on the legitimacy of the message, I paid this fine on a fraudulent site“, he tells us. A few hours later, he received a call from a (so-called) bank advisor explaining to him that he had been the victim of bank card fraud and that the crooks had managed to to collect all his numbers… But this is how the scam begins!
“The advisor tells me that I must act quickly before the scammers squander my account“, testifies Léo. In fact, these malicious people play on the urgency and fear of their victim. A questionnaire then begins on the finances of his account (overdraft authorization, monthly ceiling, etc.).”Still on the effect of fear, the advisor tells me that they tried to make a transfer of 1990 euros. He then sends me an email confirming payment refusal, but in reality, it was an email authorizing the direct debit!”Léo explains to us. Little by little, the advisor manages to get the access code for his online banking from him. “There, he has his hands on everything!”
As a “bank advisor”, he explains to Léo that he cannot ask for his four-digit bank card code and sends him an email to confirm his code. “The deception well underway, he then explains to me that I need to change cards and offers me a new service set up for ordinary customers: the “concierge” service normally reserved for platinum and black cards. We proceed together to the destruction of the bank card: he asks me to cut it in two (without cutting the chip) and put it in an envelope He then offers me a change of card via the services of a courier to recover the destroyed card and. give me a new card the next day.”
It is then that Léo, completely manipulated and wanting to react as quickly as possible to avoid the theft of his money, gives his bank card to the courier! That’s when he realizes something is wrong. When he talks about it to his partner Mélanie, the bank advisor calls him back at the same time to make sure the courier is coming. But the latter is not fooled! She calls their real bank to object and report this credit card scam. “When I went to my bank, my advisor confirmed to me that I had indeed been the victim of a scam, but that in my misfortune, I had been very lucky: the scammers were too greedy” says Léo. In fact, the transfers and purchases made were all rejected. The amount: 1040 euros! “This amount did not go into stores, however, 999 euros was good“, he reassures himself.
However, if the scammers had managed to debit this amount, Léo would not have been able to obtain compensation from his bank given that he gave his codes on his own. “Finally, what also “saved” me was that my current account was overdrawn”. According to his advisor, the mistake that many clients make is leaving too much money in their current account. It is in fact recommended to place it in savings accounts to limit the risk of being stolen.