Three customers in Sparebanken Sør were almost robbed of NOK 600,000 after they were tricked into calling a telephone number where the fraudsters were waiting at the other end.
In a fraud attempt that apparently seemed targeted at 52 bank customers, an SMS was sent asking the account owners to contact the bank on a special 800 number. The message the bank customers received was that there were fake activities on their accounts.
The attack differs from previous attempts, where thousands of text messages have been sent out in an attempt to fool as many people as possible.
Those who called the number got in touch with a woman who was supposed to “help” them stop the fraud. They were asked to provide personal information, BankID, and password.
“This way, the scammers got everything they needed to log in to the online bank. While the woman was talking to the customers to ‘help’ them, the accounts were emptied of money – including everything that may be available on a flexible loan,” security chief Åsmund Myklevoll of Sparebanken Sør said.
Shortly after the calls, the longest of which lasted 23 minutes, however, bank customers got a bad feeling and called the customer center at the bank. The center managed to stop the transfer of the money. Telenor blocked the 800 number.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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