Westpac NZ is applauding the quick thinking of one of their customers who not only spotted a scam and avoided it but managed to record the scammer in action.
The scam call, released today by Westpac, shows the degree of sophistication and "believability" that so-called "bank impersonation" scams are operating at, and is a timely warning to be especially vigilant for scams in the busy lead up to Christmas.
Credit: Westpac NZ
A smooth and urbane caller purporting to be from the Westpac Credit Card Fraud team rang the customer recently and said their card had been used in several overseas transactions.
The scammer gives a believable account of a credit card being used inappropriately, mentions popular websites that the customer may have interacted with and, ironically, gives the customer advice on avoiding scams.
After a period of developing trust, the scammer requests the digits of the customer's credit card in order to "cancel" the card and says a text message will be sent to the customer to "confirm" the cancellation.
Westpac Financial Crime Intelligence Manager Jessica Channing says the bank would never ask for a credit card number to cancel a payment - the bank would obviously already have this on file - and the "confirmation text" would be part of the scam.
"The scammer is trying to get the card number out of the customer and if they got it, they would then immediately make an online purchase using the card," Ms Channing says.
"The text message that would arrive on the customer's phone would having nothing to do with cancellation - there is no such thing as a Cancellation Code and Westpac would never send one to a customer and ask them to read it back.
"The code would actually be confirming the purchase the scammer has just made."
Ms Channing applauded the actions of the customer on the recorded call.
"He did exactly the right thing once he realised he was being asked for information - he refused to give any numbers and the scammer gave up soon after that.
"Scammers can be very convincing and this customer did extremely well to resist and refuse to read anything out. And with his quick thinking, his recording of the conversation is going to help others as well. A massive thank you to that customer."
Ms Channing said she sympathises with customers as scammers are getting more and more sophisticated and are becoming harder to spot.
"You should be really suspicious of receiving any unsolicited call purporting to be from a bank," she says.
"The best course of action is to hang up and call your bank back on their official phone number listed on their website.
"If we do have to call you, we won't be offended if you say 'Sorry, I'm going to follow best practice and hang up and call you back myself'."
Ms Channing says people should be extra vigilant as the holiday season is a prime time for scammers.
"People are stressed and busy and they're shopping a lot and using courier services - presenting scammers with opportunities. We've definitely seen an increase in phishing scams, online marketplace scams, and parcel delivery text message scams."
What is best practice for anyone who might receive a similar call?
- Be extremely vigilant for any unexpected or suspicious phone calls.
- If you're unsure if it's genuine, end the call.
- If the caller claims to be from a legitimate entity (such as your bank), you can call back using the number on their official website but don't request a call back.
- Carefully read any messages or emails with verification codes.
