Wednesday, Jun 28, 2006 at 09:00
Beatit,
It is possible for the bank to call - tho' unlikely.
They could became aware of a scammer because somebody notified them. They would know the account number the scammer had set up to transfer money to - they would look at all transfers to that account and put 1 and 1 together (for once). They would know which accounts the transfers came from.
The scammer MO may be, for instance, might be to:
1. collect a whole lot of Westpac access IDs using a phishing scam
2. log into those Internet Banking accounts, check out the user details, get their phone numbers and names and make a list
3. transfer large amounts (typically maximum amounts for Internet Banking) to an account or accounts set up for the purpose
4. delete those account details from the Internet Banking
5. Lock the account by wrong password access (easy to do)
6. Call the account holders and tell them they have been scammed, but not to worry - they will get refunded, however their accounts will be locked for 3 days
7. withdraw the cash from the account have the cash sent with Western Union or such, overseas
8. close the account
A common variation at the moment, is to recruit people into their scam unknowingly. These people are cash couriers. They provide their account details to the scammer. Money gets transfered to their account by unsuspecting scammed eBay buyers or by the phishing scammer using stolen ID. They are asked to take the money out of their accounts and transfer it by Western Union to [insert your favourite country like Russia, Hong Kong, Malaysia ...] and it is never seen again ...
The eBay buyer never gets the goods.
Everyone gets burned in one way or another.
The scamming is too far removed to be able to trace it ...
I hope this helps
Andrew who can't say loudly enough that Reiner needs to check the bona fides ... oh
well.
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