Retiree took money from crooks

The 70-year-old Russian woman received a fake call from her bank; he acted cunning and deceived the crooks

They tried to scam him but the retiree managed to extract money from them
A 70-year-old Russian woman received a fake call from her bank; he acted cunning and deceived the crooks

The crooks wanted to take advantage of a Russian pensioner with a phone trick, but ended up cheating on them, and to top it off, giving the cunning woman some money.

It happened in the city of Chelyabinsk, in central Russia, when crooks tried unsuccessfully to trick a 70-year-old former foreign language teacher into believing that her bank account was in danger.

It all started when the criminals called this woman to tell her, in a warning voice, that a group of strangers were trying to steal her account, and that it was urgent that she withdraw the money from it. deposit it in a more secure account. .

The woman had already received similar calls on two occasions from a so-called “bank security guard” and simply hung up. But this time, he decided to go further. Asked by the men on the other end of the phone about how much she had in this apparently threatened account, she said she had 8 million rubles ($ 110,000) when in fact she had no than 50 rubles ($ 0.70). .

“A restless voice said someone was trying to access my bank account. And as luck would have it he asked me how much money I had said, the first amount that came to his mind … 8 million, “said the woman, whose name has not come out.

“Then the man talking started trying to push me around because he said every second was precious and asked me to go to the bank immediately, withdraw all the money and transfer it to a secure account. “the woman added.

The man also told the language teacher that it was important not to cut off her phone call, and that’s when she got her second breath. He told the scammer that his phone balance might run out soon, and from then on, to maintain communication, the caller would have to pay.

Then the interlocutor promised to top up his balance, cut off and after a while he called back. “Almost immediately after the cut, they transferred 500 rubles (US $ 7) to me. Apparently her intention was to keep me hooked on the phone for a long time, ”the woman said.

On the second call, the same “bank clerk” who had spoken earlier again insisted on the need for her to change the money in her account. It was then that the retiree took her last step.

“When he named me again the bank he was supposed to call me, I became the ‘sclera’ and told him that he actually had the $ 8 million in another organization and that in their bank he barely had 50 rubles, ”the woman said. .

Then the language teacher pointed out that she had heard “foul language” words addressed to her coming from the other end of the line, and the caller immediately hung up the call.

The woman ended up with a financial balance of seven dollars in her favor and a good story to tell, that of how a retired teacher ended up ripping off crooks.

In our country, bank scams are also frequent, here we will tell you what are the most common deceptions and some strategies to avoid them.

To identify if a link or attachment is malicious, the user can analyze the details of the website’s security certificate to verify that it is the genuine site. Verify that the information is true by contacting the entity claiming to provide it through other official communication channels.

If you are going to buy from a site for the first time, use the credit card instead of the debit card and, if possible, favor platforms that allow you to pay through third-party services without providing financial data, such as Mercado Pago. or Paypal. If this is a shortened link, check before entering that it links to the official site.

Cancel all file downloads that start automatically. Avoid downloading and running files from untrusted sources. Have a security solution with which to scan attachments, which also has an antiphishing feature capable of flagging dangerous websites.

Correctly configure your account’s privacy options.

Avoid responding to such emails or posts, among others, which refer to contests, prizes or requests for assistance of questionable origin.

Use the private browsing feature whenever needed.

Avoid sharing sensitive information like address, phone, etc. on social networks.

Read application and platform license agreements to avoid installing potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) or end up giving out confidential information.

Create and use strong passwords, preferably 12 characters or more, with alphanumeric characters and symbols. Change them frequently depending on the importance of the information they protect. Also, try not to repeat them between different platforms and enable double factor authentication whenever possible.

Discover the latest trends in information security and cyber threats.