Lurking

A cautionary tale. This afternoon I was phoned by the fraud department of our bank to say that a person had tried to make two purchases with my debit card, each one for over £2,000. They were ringing to ask if I had made the transactions, which I hadn’t.

While they were on the line I checked my banking app on my iPad and, sure enough, the first of the two transactions was showing, and was pending. I became very concerned, and increasingly so as the conversation went on. I was told that the scammer had full access to my account, and my personal information, and I just got swept away on a wave of anxiety.

Fast forward four hours and many telephone calls later. Of course the call itself was a scam, and I was not talking to the bank’s fraud department, but a scammer. I was guided very skilfully by him, when he talked about my being elevated to a Level 2 Security Plan to prevent future frauds. Smithers was listening to the calls beside me and was also concerned, and neither of us suspected anything. Then I finally asked the right question, “How do I know you’re not the scammer?” and that was when the scammer put the phone down on me.

At that point I burst into prolonged and very loud tears, realising that I had been extremely foolish. I hadn’t given away any private information, but nevertheless we had possibly lost a very large sum of money.

I immediately contacted our eldest son who, by a miracle of timing, was able to FaceTime us and listen while I contacted the bank’s (genuine) fraud department to try and sort it out. Then The Traveller and his girlfriend popped in unexpectedly to see us, so I had two sons at my side as I navigated the numerous phone calls with different parts of the bank’s fraud department.

The upshot is that the bank has cancelled the fraudulent transactions, which was a huge relief. I am feeling utterly humiliated by my failure to recognise a scam, because I am hugely security conscious and would never have believed I could fall for one so easily.

Smithers is feeling very fragile now, and we’re both very tired. Our middle son has rung from holiday in the Lake District to check on us, having heard from his brothers what had happened. I feel very supported by them all, and am feeling calmer now.

But please, please, be warned. The scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated. Don’t let it happen to you.