Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 224 posts

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#161

Post by [deleted] »

martijnvds wrote: post #131
djhworld wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On traditional landline phones that older folk tend to use (although I guess that's dwindling every year) a common tactic for scammers is to ask the victim to call the number on the back of the card. However the scammers don't hang up they just play a fake dial tone so the victim dials the number thinking they're contacting their bank but they're actually just speaking to the scammers again

How did that work? In the Netherlands, in the 80s-00s at least, hanging up cleared your line, so picking it up again would get you a fresh dialtone even if the other side didn't hang up (and the other side would get a modified "busy" signal if you hung up on them).

[deleted]

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#162

Post by alasdair_ »

anpago wrote: post #114
Angostura wrote: post #50

I had a long argument with HSBC UK Security a few years ago where I was completely unable to get the to understand they were putting their customers at risk. In the event that something looked strange on your account the 'HSBC Fraud Department' would text you and ask them to call you on a phone number. A phone number that didn't appear anywhere on their website. "We don't want it public. OK,well at least put it on a…

Hopefully this trial 159 scheme takes off one simple number to call regardless of bank. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/stop--hang-up... I mentioned to a fewer older family members and they were all for a simple number to call.

Reminds me of the “now there are 14 standards” xkcd.

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#163

Post by lazide »

mnw21cam wrote: post #148
lazide wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing there are no data leaks or compromises! /s That my bank insists on using essentially now public information now to verify (and refuses to use anything else, even after being repeatedly asked!) is also infuriating. Last 4 of SSN and DOB? Really?

Well, the point isn't that my bank wouldn't "leak" my details - I certainly don't trust them that far. So it's absolutely possible for a random person to get my phone number from the bank. But if a random person were to phone me and tell me that my bank gave them my phone number to be helpful, I'd be calling that out as a lie.

If someone spoofs the banks number on caller ID (trivial), knows all your security question answers, the bank you bank with, and your number - very few people are NOT going to fall for some kind of attack there correct?

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#164

Post by Mountain_Skies »

easton wrote: post #117
pfranz wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US credit card companies aren't any better. I recently had a similar "fraud alert." The company ditched travel notices in 2016 claiming their AI was good enough to replace it. A few weeks after traveling I had a very small purchase flagged (under $20 at a place like Target). When I called the number they asked me for my complete credit card number, social security number, they didn't know my phone number or email and…

Not all US credit card companies are like this. I specifically remember a few years ago that my Mom got a call from AMEX about some fraud on her card, to which she responded “I never get calls from you, how do I know this is real?”. They said no problem, just hang up and call the number on the back of your card. I believe some banks even skip the call entirely, and just prompt you to call the number on the card.

A weird one that happened to me a few years ago was when I ordered about $100 worth of products from banggood, my phone rang within seconds of the purchase going through. The display on my phone showed it to be a bank I never heard of. When I did a search, it turned out to be a small bank with about a dozen branches in a state hundreds of miles away. The voicemail however was from my bank's fraud department informing me they were locking my card due to unusual activity. When I called my bank using the number on my card, they verified that the original call was from them and they were able to unlock my card. They had no idea why the name of a different bank showed up on my phone. Best I can determine is that my cell provider was the one who added the name information and something in their database was incorrect.

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#165

Post by antihero »

simonvc wrote: post #11

How is the world going to balance instant low friction commerce with the need to prevent instant low friction fraud... I don't think anyone has answers, it's a problem that will affect crypto payments as well as Fiat payments.. I hoped Confirmation of Payee would help, but the massive increase in APP fraud in the last 12 months seems to dispel that notion.. Maybe the answer is money that doesn't settle instantly.. Ki…

> Maybe the answer is money that doesn't settle instantly.. Kind of like how your paypal payments are "on hold" whenever you get them to give the sender time to realise they've been scammed. Maybe all payments take 2 weeks to settle, and everyone lives on free credit up to the unsettled amount..

This would be extremely annoying. I hope it would be opt-out.

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#166

Post by AnotherGoodName »

pfranz wrote: post #64
Angostura wrote: post #50

I had a long argument with HSBC UK Security a few years ago where I was completely unable to get the to understand they were putting their customers at risk. In the event that something looked strange on your account the 'HSBC Fraud Department' would text you and ask them to call you on a phone number. A phone number that didn't appear anywhere on their website. "We don't want it public. OK,well at least put it on a…

US credit card companies aren't any better. I recently had a similar "fraud alert." The company ditched travel notices in 2016 claiming their AI was good enough to replace it. A few weeks after traveling I had a very small purchase flagged (under $20 at a place like Target). When I called the number they asked me for my complete credit card number, social security number, they didn't know my phone number or email and…

Incidently for those with a VPN installed on their phone do not use your banking app while the VPN is running.

The current "We don't need you to tell us where you're going we can figure it out" leads to me getting locked out 100% of the time i use the banking app on my phone with the VPN on and then try to use the card at a nearby store. Obviously there's two different sources of my location incoming and that causes issues.

I guess it's an edge case to have a VPN on your phone but it's very very frustrating.

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#167

Post by jmugan »

I just got a fraudulent email from someone impersonating my bank about small changes to the terms of service, but all of the links appear legitimate. No phone numbers either. I guess this is some sort of long-con to get me to trust the email address? It ended in the legitimate domain name of the bank.

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#168

Post by denton-scratch »

> The country is the global epicentre for such attacks

Oh dear. So the country is the location several Km underground, that is the centre of the attacks?

Why has every centre turned into an epicentre? Is "epicentre" easier to understand then "centre"?

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#169

Post by ksdale »

Angostura wrote: post #50

I had a long argument with HSBC UK Security a few years ago where I was completely unable to get the to understand they were putting their customers at risk. In the event that something looked strange on your account the 'HSBC Fraud Department' would text you and ask them to call you on a phone number. A phone number that didn't appear anywhere on their website. "We don't want it public. OK,well at least put it on a…

In the US, we had a medical provider who, when they would call you to give you test results, would attempt to get you to verify your identity by telling them part of you social security number. Haha, you called me! How do I know you're who you say you are?

Re: An unprecedented wave of online bank fraud is hitting Britain

#170

Post by denton-scratch »

simonh wrote: post #62
Chris2048 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are these databases used to police/punish the stereotypical Nigerian scammer?

I don't think that's a reasonable question, not all scammers are Nigerian. Some are based in the UK, others in Europe. Also the EU had data sharing agreements and collaboration outreach with police forces all over the world that we also lost access to. That's one of the complications with our data sharing with the EU; they have agreements to share data with non-EU countries on the basis that their data is only shared…

> not all scammers are Nigerian

Of course not; but "stereotypical" ones are definitely Nigerian.

Post reply on HN