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We had a call today from “Citizens’ Advice” offering help with unsecured debt. Yeah right. It was a new one on us after the usual Microsoft and BT imposters. But impersonating the CA is a new low on a day when many will be concerned about bills and debts.
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Thieves don't recognise moral highs and lows, just way's of taking your money.
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That's new to me; not seen anything internally alerting us that we're being 'imposted'.
OTOH where I signpost people for debt advice I give them links to the kosher charitable websites like national debtline and step change. A caution is added about 'googling' debt advice; the top results are all to often ads promoting folks who are out for profit and may not offer impartial advice. IVA is oversold...
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>> That's new to me; not seen anything internally alerting us that we're being 'imposted'.
>>
If they are "imposting" (sp) banks and the police, the CA is going to be easy.
I mentioned a while ago, that I am in the local business centre to help keep numbers up rather than working at home.
There is a retail branch on the ground floor.
Three times this week I have noticed the police turn up* and talk to a customer** that wants to withdraw their money because some crook has told them the bank staff are stealing from them or that the branch are handing out fake notes and to withdraw money and take it home where a courier will collect it.
The police are called under something called "Banking Protocol". It's a 999 call and the police should turn up. They don't always because not all of the the police's call centre staff have been properly trained or the police don't see someone being robbed of their life savings being a 999 issue. The manager was even told once to stop wasting police time re a vulnerable pensioner who was trying to withdraw around £20k in cash.
(*and they are just the ones that I have noticed, chatting to the retail staff say that it can be a few a day but not all are police calls because the branch manager can show the customer that they are being conned.)
(** not always elderly)
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Missed the edit:
A common one for business banking is a client receives an email from their FD or MD who is on holiday instructing the accounts staff to make an urgent large transfer. The number of these that we get is alarming.
It also suggests that the client's email server is compromised because they seem to know when the FD or MD is on holiday and their names, staff details etc.
I have personally woken up an MD on holiday in the USA to double check before paying out £100k for a new machine deposit, that he knew nothing about.
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Well they (“Citizens Advice”) called back again today on my wife’s mobile. When my wife played them along and asked for more detail he said they were Citizen’s Debt Advice. He claimed she had filled in an online form seeking debt advice and he was calling to help. She has of course filled in no such form. More worrying though is she asked if he had her email address and he reeled that off correctly.
He then rang off.
We try to only use reputable sites online so it’s a mystery where they got her mobile and internet details. Presumably one of the occasional data breaches we hear about. You just wonder what other ID details they have.
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>> You just wonder what other ID details they have.
>>
Millions!
Call centre staff are also paid bounties by crooks to pass on details of potentially vulnerable customers.
It is rarer in this country, but not unheard of, given that many major companies outsource overflow calls to subcontractors.
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>> Well they (“Citizens Advice”) called back again today on my wife’s mobile. When my wife
>> played them along and asked for more detail he said they were Citizen’s Debt Advice.
Citizens Debt Advice sounds to me like on of those corrupted names, designed to mislead, that comes up as a top result when you search debt advice....
Citizens Advice would never cold call. Most local offices, Citizens Advice is federation not a single national service, will have a web contact form and maybe a specific one for Debt. What a local office can do is determined by their funding, the qualifications of staff/volunteers and, to some extent local priorities.
There is some nationally funded Debt provision via a call centre or webchat but again you'd have to have taken the initiative.
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The real CA are totally legit and these fraudsters didn’t take us in for a second. But they were convincing, to a degree. Thanks for the background Bromp.
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It doesn't help when the real agencies change their names. What was wrong with Citizens Advice Bureau?
I think the genuine debt advice service is, or rather was, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service. It has changed its name to StepChange Debt Charity.
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>> It doesn't help when the real agencies change their names. What was wrong with Citizens
>> Advice Bureau?
The term Bureau was thought to be old fashioned and off putting. At the time we most of the volunteer workforce thought it was a bit silly - what's wrong with an 80 or so year old branding?
The old logo though was certainly tired and the new 'speech bubble' looks much better.
The media cannot be persuaded to drop the B. I lose count of the times our public facing spokespeople are reffered to as CAB.
>> I think the genuine debt advice service is, or rather was, the Consumer Credit Counselling
>> Service. It has changed its name to StepChange Debt Charity.
Interesting.
I'd never heard of it as anything other than Step Change in the period since 2015 where I've been working on projects outwith Northampton CA's bailiwick but it's another name where the old version sounded a bit dated.
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We have seen some emails purportedly from clients (hijacked client's email accounts?).
The emails ask for a Microsoft Teams or Zoom meeting.
Clicking on the link activates a website that looks like a Zoom or Teams screen but isn't and attempts to download software that specifically looks to infect banking applications (like other banks we use standard banking software for some back office tasks).
This is very sophisticated and must be set up by someone that knows what software we use.
The authorities have made all UK banks aware of this new attack.
Suspicion within our organisation (nothing official) is that it is a state sponsored hacking attempt.
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How low do fraudsters sink - Robin O'Reliant
