Protect yourself from Safe Account scams
One of the most long-running tactics used by scammers in the United Kingdom is the “safe account scam”. Safe account scams have consistently made up a large percentage of the money lost by the U.K public to Authorised Push Payments (APP) scams. While there is limited data, we know that in 2020 almost £100 million was lost to impersonation scams, much of it with the fraudsters pretending to be the bank and tricking the victims into sending money to a ‘safe account’.
What are safe account scams?
A safe account scam is where a fraudster pretends to be your bank and contacts you telling you that your money is under threat and the only way to protect it is to move it to a new, ‘safe’ account. The fraudsters can be very convincing, knowing intimate details about your account and transaction history and might also sound like they're in a call centre. The scammers can also pull a trick so that when they contact you, you see the bank’s telephone number. This makes safe account scams particularly convincing.
How does a safe account scam work?
Often, you will have responded to a fake SMS pretending to be from a delivery company, or even an SMS pretending to be from the NHS requiring you to fill in some of your information. Having responded to the SMS and provided some of your details, the fraudsters take your details and use this information to convince you that they are the bank calling and they know your information, just like the bank would. This is usually how this type of scam begins, but it does not always start with you disclosing your information and they could have obtained your details another way, for example if they found it for sale on the dark web.
When they call you, often the fraudsters will have ‘spoofed’ the firm’s telephone number when they call you, so it looks like it is your bank calling or they will have sent you an SMS that showed as coming from them. This little trick the fraudsters pull unfortunately makes the scam particularly convincing and harder for people to spot that something is wrong. The key to remember here is that you must always assume that scammers have the ability to ‘spoof’ the numbers of banking firms, government departments, or just about anyone else, and treat contact from these numbers with caution.
Once they have you on the line and they have convinced you they are the bank, they will list some large and scary sounding payments which they say have been attempted on your card. They know this isn't you, but they want to create panic and want you to believe that your money is under threat from scammers and that you can lose it at any moment. The fraudsters provide you with the new details that you need to send the money to and, thinking this is legitimately your firm on the line, you send the money thinking you have protected it. Unfortunately, this new account is one controlled by the scammers and they have tricked you into sending them all of your money. You have just fallen victim to an APP fraud. If this has happened to you, Refundee can help you by trying to get your money back from your bank. You can start this process with a free consultation by filling in our no obligation fraud refund claim form.
Are there any different tactics or other approaches used by the scammers?
What we have described above is the general pattern of how safe account scams work, but there are often small differences. For example, sometimes they do not try to convince you to send the money yourself. Instead, they may tell you that there are these scary looking attempted payments, and the only way for them to block those payments is for you to give them a code that they will send you. You then receive an official code by SMS which shows as coming from your bank, and read those out to the scammers to block the payments. But the firm never requires any codes to be read out or given to them for payments to be blocked or prevented. The scammers tricked you into thinking this was the case, and actually what they have done is requested payments from your bank which could only be completed with codes sent to your mobile phone. By reading those codes, the fraudsters were able to send money from your account to new payees. This is a twist on a safe account scam, and it's important to note that this is not an Authorised Push Payment scam as you have not authorised the payments. If you have lost money to a similar scam, Refundee can help you to get the money back from your bank. You can start this process with a free consultation by filling in our no obligation fraud refund claim form.
How to protect yourself from a safe account scam
Here are some golden tips for staying safe and protecting yourself from safe account scams:
Never trust the number that has called you or sent you an SMS. The scammers can often ‘spoof’ those numbers and impersonate your bank
The bank will never ask you to send money to a safe account or to give them codes sent to your device. If someone claiming to be them asks you to do this, it is a scam and you should end the call
They would never call out of the blue asking for person details and codes so if they do, just hang up
If anyone ever contacts you saying it is your bank, no matter how urgent they say it is just hang up and call the firm yourself on the number on the back of your card
If the person on the line is pushy or even threatening, they are a scammer as a legitimate firm would never make you feel pressured
I have lost money to a safe account scam, can I get my money back from my bank?
If you have lost money to this type of scam, Refundee can help you get your money back from your bank and you can fill in our fraud refund claim form for a free consultation. Our fee is 15% plus VAT on anything that we get back, and we don't charge anything if we are not successful. For larger cases, the fee is subject to a maximum of £10k plus VAT per case.
Remember you don’t need to use a company like Refundee, you could work your case yourself for free! If you’d like to get a refund yourself, you can do this by following our bank transfer refund guide.
