YOU HAVE YOUR SAY

Why you should NEVER trust a text message from your bank Money Mail, October 3 EVERY week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some from our article about fraudsters calling and texting victims from numbers that appear to belong to their banks: THE blame. banks They themselves are constantly are to closing machines, branches forcing customers and cash into internet. the If Wild we all stopped West of using the online to act on banking, this kind they’d of fraud. be forced F. G., Maidstone, Kent. A YEAR ago, I received a text from my bank which I suspected was a scam. It asked me to call due to suspected fraudulent activity. I felt it was odd, but I did phone the number and it

was my bank. I don’t know what I would do if the same thing happened again. P.P., Newport. REMEMBER cheque books and £50 cheque cards? Not so long ago you could actually visit your branch and speak to a real bank manager. There’s certainly something to be said for the old ways of doing things. S. M., Ely, Cambs. I HAVE a hard-and-fast rule: never reply to, or comply with, any texts, calls, or emails from your bank directly. Just take the time to contact it yourself. If the message is genuine, it will be understanding of the fact you want to be cautious. L.U., Guildford, Surrey. FRAUDSTERS targeted my mother last month. A call came in from a number which looked like it belonged to her bank. They took £26,000 just like that. Fortunately, the cash had been transferred to another account with the same bank, but she had a week of hell waiting. T. S., Wakefield, W. Yorks. MY BANK doesn’t have any branches, it’s telephone banking only. I’ve never received a call from it, but if I did, I’d say I would call back. Then I would phone from a different line. If it was a genuine call, the bank would have notes on its system to say someone had called you. L. W., Glasgow.