One woman was left “shaking and crying”, after a scammer pretended to be the bank in order to steal her hard-earned cash.
Wendy Falconer was tricked by a ‘spoofing’ scam in which criminals disguise the phone number they’re calling from for another one.
The 63-year-old from Tywyn, Wales explained the call appeared to be coming from her bank’s number, which she had saved in her phone.
She believed the scammer was from the bank as he spoke to her “so professionally” and knew the details about her account
He instructed her to tell him a security code that she received, which gave him access to her account.
The fraudster stole almost £400 from the account while still on the call in October when Wendy was caring for her husband as he recovered from heart surgery.
Once he had access to her account, the scammer began mocking her over the phone.
Mrs Falconer told the BBC: “He was laughing, saying I was stupid, his language was unbelievable. And he said if you’d like to go to your app now, you’ll see me take your money.
“Why did he need to do that? He’d already got the money.
“He was laughing so much at me and the language was just awful, calling me names.
“He said ‘you’re so thick, you’re so stupid’. I was just in shock.”
The 63-year-old eventually got her money back, however, she was left devastated by the psychological games that the scammer had played.
She could not sleep as all she could hear was his voice, laughing at her and the abuse and mocking that took place.
Mrs Falconer continued: “I felt violated by him. But if he just took my money, I think I would have coped with it, and thought ‘I’ve been scammed’. It was what he did to me after.
“It left me feeling so low, this man was so awful. I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”
The communications watchdog Ofcom has warned people not to give out sensitive information over the phone after receiving a call from someone else. Calling a service provider directly can reduce risk.
Ofcom said: “Never give out your personal information in response to an incoming call, or rely upon the caller ID as the sole means of identification, particularly if the caller asks you to carry out an action which might have financial consequences.”
