The telephone scam seems to be a common way to attack innocent individuals of their bank accounts, however elderly people have fallen victim to this scam far too many times, defrauded them of a total of $5 million in the past six months.
Police are investigating at least seven cases of telephone fraud similar to the one reported by Money last week. In one case, the scammers netted $600,000.
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In our March 30 cover story on fraud, we recounted the experience of Albert and Marie, an elderly couple from Sydney who lost about $120,000 after they were convinced to place their money in an overseas bank account for “safekeeping”.
The scam started with a phone call from someone purporting to be the manager of a Rolex store, who said that a youth posing as their nephew had been detained trying to use Albert’s credit card. Then Albert received a call from someone who identified himself as “John Miller”, an ANZ bank manager, who instructed Albert to call triple zero and ask for “Superintendent Craig Nelson” who was leading the investigation.
Albert rang triple zero and to his surprise the call was answered by a man who identified himself as Nelson and backed the bank’s instruction to transfer the money.
NSW Police believe the same offenders are targeting vulnerable elderly residents. A spokesman said there was a similar case in Surry Hills reported in January, suggesting “the offenders are the same people that have targeted [other] victims”.
Strikingly similar cases involving fraudulent phone calls were also reported in October within the Sydney CBD.
“Investigations continue,” a police spokesman says.
Money understands that Scotland Yard is working with NSW Police and is investigating UK links to the scam. Within Australia, it seems to be just NSW so far where the scam has been taking place.
In a variation on the theme, Money was also contacted by someone who had a similar experience, but was instructed to call their bank using the number on the back of the credit card rather than the police.
Hijacking phones, although possible, is complex, and it appears the fraudsters are using a simple, low-tech method for intercepting the outbound calls.
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The NSW Police Fraud and Cybercrime Squad describes the cold-call scams as “long-held” ones, whereby criminals call a potential victim on a landline telephone, and then stay on the line after the called parties believe they have terminated the call. By keeping the line open, the criminal is able to pick up further calls the person makes, such as when directed by the scammer to call the bank or police.
A good precaution for anyone who is unsure whether a call is legitimate, is to use a different phone for the outbound call.
Class action
A retired NSW magistrate contacted Money to report that family friends, a couple in their late 80s, “in December last year had an experience virtually identical with that of Albert and Marie”, including the Barclays connection, the aliases “John Miller” and “Superintendent Craig Nelson” and the triple-zero ruse.
The couple lost “a considerable amount of money” and the woman recently died. “Of unrelated causes, although one can never tell,” the retired jurist says.
The former magistrate, who wishes to remain anonymous, was given heart by the story in Money and hopes to achieve some redress for his friend and other victims. He believes that if other victims are prepared to come forward, each with a similar pattern of fraud, a case can be made for a class action for negligence.
Reports of such fraud first appeared in the UK press in 2014, described the scamsters as a “sophisticated new wave of crooks … hijacking phone lines to manipulate bank customers into handing over … tens of thousands of pounds”.
In that time, no perpetrator has ever been caught, and no financial institution has been found negligent. It appears that in exporting the scam to Australia, that record remains intact.
Variation on the scam
A public servant, Roger, who lives in rural NSW near Canberra, had a similar experience, though in the end he was not cheated because the account in question contained only $200.
“It must have been the same people because I went through the same experience almost word for word,” Roger says.
Unlike other instances of such fraud brought to Money’s attention, Roger is not an elderly retiree. He is 58, hale and hearty, and working – but he was just as easily conned.
Roger also received a call purporting to be from a Rolex store manager about an attempted fraud on his card. The “manager” suggested that Roger immediately call the “lost & stolen cards” number behind the card. When he did so, a person pretending to be a Commonwealth Bank officer answered his call.
The person said the card had also been used at a Louis Vuitton store in Sydney to buy items worth $3299 and said a “red alert” would be placed on the card to ensure against further misuse. As with Albert and Marie, Roger was told the police were on the case.
The “bank officer” also suggested that a red alert be placed on Roger’s bank accounts and sought verification details from him, including his date of birth, account number and the amount in the account. Roger said there was only one account containing $200.
Later in the day, it occurred to Roger that neither he nor the bank officer had thought to cancel the compromised card. When he called the bank again, they had no record of his earlier call or of the alerts that he was told would be placed.
He heard no more from the scammers, and assumes they were put off by the fact he had only $200 in his account, his primary account being with another bank.
“When I rang the bank the first time, when I was in fact speaking to the scammer, I can’t believe how easily I was tricked into giving my bank details and personal information,” he says.
“I didn’t think I was someone who would be vulnerable to scams. I thought I was reasonably alert to this sort of thing. It just shows how wrong I was.”
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Original article published on SMH.com. Photo Credit: Daily Mail
