Caller: The Bank

Today at 11.53 am I had a call from a woman purporting to be from 'the bank'. They were checking if I had authorised an $800 dollar transaction via my VISA or Mastercard. Apparently, they had determined that it seemed suspicious and therefore contacted me. They then wanted to confirm which card I had used and when I replied that if they had put a stop on the payment then surely they would know which card it was and I would confirm for them if they knew the card and number correctly. I was then told that the money would be released in a matter of minutes if I didn't answer their questions and was this what I wanted. I was then told they needed this information so that I could be put through to the manager of cancellations to stop the transaction happening. I then replied that I would prefer to ring my own bank, who would clearly have the knowledge of anything suspicious. That led to a more aggressive "So you want us to release this money do you ma'am". When I replied that I was not about to fall for a scam and would not be providing any information, they hung up.

I had a similar type of call two years ago, supposedly from Amazon Prime. I was hesitant to believe them but eventually fell for it as they said they were putting a financial blocker on my credit union account, to stop unauthorised transactions. I stupidly let them have the information I wanted. I became more suspicious as I had four telephone calls in all - two different phone numbers and two silent numbers. Rang my Credit Union afterwards and thought the scammers had not got away with it - but a check next day showed they had taken money out of my account by Fast Transfer. Fortunately I had an upper limit for any one transaction - or maybe for a day's transaction. (I would recommend this, though it is a nuisance to remember to change it when necessary.)