SAVINGS GONE IN BANK FRAUD

Advertising professional Sofia Bodger is 27, “vigilant and savvy about scams” – and proof anyone can get caught out.

She was hit by a carefully planned ruse that began with what looked like a text from phone company EE saying that her credit card details were out of date.

She clicked on the link but, suspecting something wasn’t right, clicked off again without entering any personal details.

That text was the groundwork for what was to follow. Three days later she got a call apparently from Barclays to say that there was suspicious activity on her account.

To Sofia, this seemed all too plausible after that strange message supposedly from EE. She checked the number of the caller and it matched that of Barclay’s fraud department.

In fact, it was crooks using phonespoofing technology to mimic calling from a different number.

SIPHONED

The caller said that a third party was trying to take her savings, so the money should be immediately moved to a “safe” account or it all would be lost.

After checking the number of the caller again, Sofia transferred her money into another Barclays account in her name but controlled by the crooks.

From there it was siphoned away, as she learnt after talking to the genuine Barclays fraud department.

“When I spoke to the real Barclays I said it’s impossible to tell the difference between them and the scammers as they use the same banking language, the same expressions,” Sofia said.

“The woman at Barclays said the difference was they would never ask me to transfer money.

“With hindsight I understand that but in that moment of panic when you think all your money is being stolen you just want to get it to safety.

“I can’t believe the audacity of that fraudster on the phone saying ‘Don’t worry, we’ll make it OK’ while stealing all my savings.”

She lost in the region of £5,000, around £3,000 of which has been refunded by Barclays and the rest by online bank Revolut, which she had also used to move money to the so-called safe account.