How do phone scams work?

Scammers mask a telephone and pretend to be calling from a large trustworthy organisation such as Queen Mary, Student Finance England or the Home Office. They’ll say fraud has been detected on your account. One tactic they use is to say your money is at risk and you need to move it to a ‘safe account’ or take cash out and give it to them for safe keeping. They’ll try to rush you into acting straight away, saying any delay will put your money at risk. They may even say that you can help them investigate by going into a branch to take out cash. They will have a ‘police officer’ meet you to take the money as part of the investigation, or say they have a police officer present when they call.

Scammers basically want your money, for you to give them your bank details, or for you to transfer money to them.

What makes them believable?

Scammers will use information they already have about you to help them sound believable and gain your trust. They might buy this information from companies selling data, or send you a fake email or text message to trick you into sharing your details. One way they do this is by making you think you need to fill in a form or pay a small fee to rearrange a delivery.

They also use social engineering to trick you into giving them confidential or personal information, then use it to help them scam you. They spend time looking at your social media, your Instagram, your LinkedIn. You might have a CV with your phone number and email address on it. So, when they call you, they might mention some personal information to gain your trust.

If you do get scammed, you might think there’s been a data breach, say, at Queen Mary, because the scammers seem to know so much about you, but the reality is you may have given information about yourself freely during the course of the conversation, without even realising it.

What can you do to avoid being scammed?

Fortunately, there’s quite a lot you can do to protect yourself and your money.

• Be brave and trust your instincts, if it doesn’t feel right, discontinue the call and hang up; you can always verify if a caller is genuine by emailing or calling the Finance Team at Queen Mary; Student Finance England or the Home Office yourself, using numbers published by the organisation.
• If there is an issue with your bank account, you need to call your bank directly, using the number published by your bank.  Your bank will be the only organisation that can access and see your bank account.
• Hit the pause button. Don’t make decisions on impulse. Scammers will often try and pressure you into providing the information they need, usually your bank details. They often rely on your fear of authority or of getting into trouble with the police or the Home Office to make you give them what they want.
• Don’t have easily accessible personal information like your phone number or email address on a CV on your social media accounts. Consider using a different email address for job searches and social media.
• Get more tips at takefive-stopfraud.org.uk

If you have been scammed, what should you do?

1. Report it to Action Fraud, – the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime report@phishing.gov.uk Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at actionfraud.police.uk
2. Report it to your bank – directly, or via 159 if your bank is part of the 159 scheme