I was almost scammed today!

Howdy folks 🤠 how was your day? Today started like every other normal day for me, just indoors all day browsing the internet, playing games, watching movies, and also making good use of readcash. I was into one of those activities when my secondary phone rang and I checked who was calling but it was an unknown number.

I contemplated picking up the call or letting it just ring because I reasoned it might be one of those people that called a wrong number. After staring at it for a while, I decided to just answer it and I was expecting to hear a strange voice so I can just say "sorry, it's a wrong number" but I heard something else.

Caller: Hello, good evening Sir

Me: Good evening. Please who is this?

Caller: this is Felix from FCMB bank, am I speaking with Mr (he says my name).

Me: yes this is him.

Caller: ok. I am calling because there's something wrong with your bank account. You haven't linked your national identity number to the phone number you used in opening your account.

Me: yes I haven't linked it, is there a problem?

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At this point, I knew I was talking to a scammer. There were several red flags I noticed when I answered the call;

• The background noise was filled with the sound of vehicles, it sounds like a motor park.

• The intonation and accent of the person sounded very weird, he was struggling to speak proper English. How can a bank put someone like that as their customer care representative? Big red flag

• Finally he made mentioned that I haven't linked my national identity number to my phone number, meanwhile I have already done that. I just decided to play along to see how far he will go with the charade 😆.

I didn't suspect it at first when he mentioned he is from FCMB bank because I actually started a registration process with the bank earlier this week, so I thought that was why they called, but it turned out it was a scammer posing as one of the bank staff. After figuring out who he was, I decided I am going to frustrate him and keep him talking just so I can waste his call credit.

(The conversation continued)

Scammer: it's just a minor issue we can rectify from here. Your bank verification number is (he mentions the correct number), right?

Me: yes that's correct

Scammer: and your date of birth is (he mentions my date of birth).

Me: yes that's also correct.

Scammer: Ok your identity has been confirmed. A service fee of NGN56 has been deducted from your account, have you gotten the alert?

Me: not yet, I think it's been hindered by slow network.

Scammer: ok no problem, you will get it later. I will need you to call out your account number so we can fully start the process.

(This is the part I was waiting for 😁)

Me: sorry I am not with my account number.

Scammer: you don't know it off heart?

Me: no I don't, hold on let me get it from my bank app.

(I made sure I took around 2 minutes just so I can waste his time some more. He started making small talks by asking me if I have any unresolved issues with the bank while I keep pretending to go look for my account number)

Me: ok I have gotten the account number, should I call it out?

Scammer: yes

Me: (I called out some random numbers)

Scammer: please can you say it again, it looks like it's wrong

Me: (I called out the correct account number but replaced two of the digits with a random one)

Scammer: This one is different from the last one you mention, please call it again and let me confirm it

Me: (I called out the same number)

Scammer: you must be very stupid

Me: (laughing very hard) you're a big fool, and then I ended the call.

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I have heard a lot of stories of people getting scammed with this same method and their bank accounts are emptied. When they ask for your account number and you give them the correct one, the next thing you will see is an OTP code sent to you by your bank and the scammer will ask you to give them the code, the moment you give them that code, they can easily walk into your account and milk it dry.

They usually target old people because they don't know much about the banking system and they are not used to it. Even some youngsters still fall prey to the schemes of these scammers, especially if it's someone with good command of English. They usually lower your guard by giving you sensitive information about you which is supposed to be known by only your bank.

First off they say your real name, and then call out your bank verification number (BVN) as well as your date of birth, these are all information you submitted to your bank when you opened an account with them. It now begs the question: how do these scammers get their hands on such sensitive information?

The truth is that the banking world is already compromised, some of those bank staff are even in cohort with these fraudsters and they give out sensitive information belonging to their customers. These scammers are becoming more desperate these days and are always evolving, so everyone needs to be extra careful.

There are usually signs that will let you know you're talking to a scammer who is trying to gain access to your account. Some of them are very good and will look like the real thing, but there is always going to be something that will let you know they are scammers, sometimes it might even be something very small and not too noticeable like when they mistakenly use the wrong bank term, you just have to take note of the little hints

Thanks for reading 💖💖💖

Thursday May 19, 2022