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Number spoofing is a heartless scam which allows Britons to be deceived by criminals pretending to be popular organisations such as the bank or Royal Mail. On BBC’s Dirty Rotten Scammers, Millie, a dog trainer from Sussex, fell victim to this devastating scam.
As well as opening her own dog training company, Millie has competed with her own dog before.
During the pandemic, she got a text from what she thought to be 02. The text claimed they had not processed her latest bill and directed her to click the link provided to enter her details again.
As the 02 website the link directed her to seemed realistic, Millie entered in her personal details.
A few days later she received a phone call from who she thought was someone at the HSBC fraud team. They told her that someone had tried to take out a direct debit on her card.
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In an aim to reassure her they were her bank, the scammers quoted Millie’s card number and personal details so she would believe it was actually an employee from the bank. She was further convinced as the number they called on matched the number on the back of her credit card.
The scammers convinced Millie that her account had been compromised and suggested that she move her money into a safe account to stop people trying to steal her money.
They didn’t stop there, they also convinced her to transfer the funds from her business account into the safe account too.
Millie said: “I had £500 in my business account which was the only money left really and that was what my client’s had raised to keep the club afloat so we could pay our ongoing expenses as we had no income.
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“It was quite traumatic because you couldn’t talk to anybody or see anyone.”
David Callington, head of fraud at HSBC suggested some key things that Britons can do to avoid falling victim to this scam.
He said: “If you’ve got concerns, just phone us back on the number at the back of the card.
“Leave it 10 minutes or phone back using a different number.
“If somebody is phoning you, and asking you to move money to a safe account, or asking you to give out a one time passcode to access your online banking or make an online payment, that’s not the bank.
“Hang up straight away. Banks will never do that.“
Dirty Rotten Scammers is available on BBC iPlayer.
