A CO-OP customer has said he feels demoralised after his £100,000 life savings vanished from his account, with the bank saying cleaning was to blame.
Pensioner Paul Henderson, from Glen Parva, Leicestershire, believes he was “scammed” out of his money after getting three phone calls claiming to be from the bank’s fraud department on December 13.
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The 84-year-old said that because he’d had to request a new visa card a fortnight earlier after the card attached to his account was used for a £30 fraudulent transaction, he didn’t think anything of it when he got a call what was supposedly the fraud team.
Paul, a former university lecturer, said that an out-of-area number showed up on the first call and he didn’t answer those calls and just let it ring.
However, after they’d called a third time, he’d had enough and decided to answer it.
Paul told the Leicester Mercury: “They claimed that they were the Co-operative Bank fraud department.
“The caller claimed that two transactions were made from my account, one for £50 and one for £30 and they asked if I’d authorised them – which I had not.”
At this point, Paul said, the caller then started asking a number of questions to supposedly verify his identity.
However, Paul became suspicious when they asked him what was the first school he attended.
But he said his memorable security question was his last school.
Paul said: “I said an answer which the caller claimed was wrong and then he asked another security question and in hindsight, Co-op would never do that.
“It went on for about seven minutes and right at the end, he said he was sending a security code to my phone, and that’s when I fell for it.”
In hindsight, Paul said that while he was reading back the code sent by text, the caller was probably changing his bank details.
At the time though, he didn’t realise anything was wrong but at 5.50pm the same evening, he got a text from the Co-op saying that some of his security details had been altered.
He tried to access his account but had been blocked by the bank.
On December 18, he phoned the Co-op bank to tell them he’d had his laptop cleaned and was given new login details by the bank.
When he was able to check his account his money, amounting to around £100,000 had gone.
Paul said: “When I contacted Co-op they told me that perhaps my computer wasn’t cleaned properly, but I’d taken it to a trusted person that I’d dealt with for more than 30 years.
How to spot a scam and what to do if you’re a victim
According to the Co-op, telephone-based impersonation scams are becoming more commonplace.
If you divulge sensitive information about your account you could find it taken over by criminals.
A fraudster could call you up and pretend to be a member of staff, say, from the bank’s fraud department or customer services.
They might say a fraudulent payment has been made from the account and they need to authenticate them before the issue can be resolved.
The scammer will then ask for personal, financial or bank account security details in order to gain access to the account online and potentially clear the entire account out of any funds.
To do all of this, they need the one-time security passcodes that the bank sends to customers, so they will manipulate and coerce the customer into revealing those codes.
How to stay safe
Never share any one-time passcodes or any of your passwords or other security codes with anyone – including anyone claiming to work for your bank.
Never agree to authorise a transaction that you have not physically made yourself in online banking.
Do not agree to download software or an app onto your device that allows someone to access it remotely
Do not to trust the caller display on your phone to verify a caller. Fraudsters can easily manipulate this.
Simone Fox, director of specialist services at The Co-operative Bank said: “We are doing all that we can to keep our customers safe, but we are seeing criminals becoming more sophisticated in their approach to scams, even going so far as to impersonate members of staff.
“We are asking our customers to remain vigilant and never trust anyone who makes an unsolicited call asking them to disclose any passcodes.
“I cannot stress enough that no member of staff at the bank will ever ask you to divulge any codes sent to you for verification purposes.”
If you think you have been a victim of a scam, you should report it as soon as possible.
There is no guarantee you’ll get your money back, but banks will often compensate you if you can
show you did not know the money would leave your account.
You can forward scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and should also contact your bank and report it to Action Fraud, which will give you a crime reference number.
Check if your bank is signed up to the voluntary APP code, which indicates it has pledged to reimburse customers who have been tricked into sending money to scammers.
If your bank is signed up and refuses to refund you, you can complain and ask it why it is not abiding by the code.
You may be able to report the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which could order your bank to compensate you.
“I have no idea how they got access because the Co-Op said that they have measures in place to prevent these things but that hasn’t happened in this case.”
Paul has provided the company with a crime reference number.
He believes the alleged scammers were able to obtain the money through his phone, which he said had not been cleaned.
Paul advised anyone with an accessible bank account with a large amount of money in it, to move it to an account where you had to give notice before withdrawing any cash.
He added: “I feel demoralised and I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve been through. I don’t live an extravagant lifestyle but I was leaving this money behind for my children.”
Since his savings vanished the Co-op Bank has said it has been able to retrieve some of the money and would reimburse him the rest.
A spokesperson from Co-op Bank said: “We are seeing fraudsters becoming more sophisticated in their approach to scams, even going so far as to impersonate members of staff, and are asking our customers to remain vigilant and never trust anyone that makes an unsolicited call.
“Protecting our customer from fraud is of the utmost importance and we are pleased that in this case, we were able to act quickly to prevent further transactions on Mr Henderson’s account and fully refund the amount lost.”
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