A Solihull couple has issued a warning to others after a close call with a scammer posing as their bank. Gillian Carroll shared her experience after answering a phone call from a man claiming to be a TSB bank employee last weekend.
She was told that payments had been flagged as suspicious on their account and that she should check messages on her husband's phone. Mrs Carroll said, 'Last weekend I received a call on my mobile phone regarding my husband's bank account. At first I was a bit reluctant to talk, but I knew my phone number was also linked on my husband's account. The man told me he was from TSB and that some payments had been flagged up as suspicious. He told me to check the messages on my husband's phone.'
Because the messages contained the TSB logo, they believed them to be genuine. She continued, 'He asked if my husband had made the payments. One we recognised, but the other one for £300 we didn't. He then told us to go into the banking app and they would stop the payment going through. The amount came up of £300 to approve payment. My husband did question it, and he said that it needed approval to refund — silly, I know.'
Another payment of £480 was then mentioned, which began to raise the couple's suspicions. 'I got a bit suspicious by this time because he wanted to carry on via WhatsApp using video chat and bring in the FCO. He asked us to share the screen, but luckily for me my phone blocked it. My gut feeling kicked in, and I said I wasn't happy with this and was ringing the bank to check.'
When they rang the official TSB bank, they were told the £300 had already been flagged up. They then proceeded to block her husband's card. She added, 'In hindsight, I realise we were stupid.'
Expert Advice
TSB Fraud Expert Steph Harrison told BirminghamLive, 'Fraudsters regularly pose as your bank or the police to get at your money with persuasive impersonation phone calls and texts. It's vital to remember that your bank will never ask you to authorise a payment or send money. If ever in doubt, you can also dial 159, where your bank will confirm whether they were trying to reach you, or if it was a scammer.'
