How do phone scammers actually manage to empty bank accounts?

Reports such as this one are everywhere but I can't get my head around the mechanics of this. Surely with dual authentication it can't be that easy for scammers or is there something else going on?

I suspect that the person gave a lot of information - login detail and probably also the secure code sent from the bank. Some people are very gullible and naïve when they think its from "The Bank" and the scammer prey on this.

All then need is one person to make it worth their while.

Remember the "olden days" when the Nigerian prince type emails were about - they purposely had grammatical and spelling errors so that the more wise people would never respond and therefore when someone did respond, they knew that there was a good chance of this person succumbing to their scam

Many Irish people are friendly by nature and have no problem talking to potential scammers. Open questions are asked and suddenly the scammer knows more about the victim than the victim's family. How do these thieves get away with their illicit trade? - Very easy, they prey on people and use their "dark" arts to get people to part with their money.

These scam telephone callers can sound very convincing. I have played along with their calls from time to time e.g. "Can you please turn on your lap-top?" ('I have done that. . .'). "Press the following buttons . . ." (I've done that . . . ). "Press them again . . " (I've done that and sounding like I'm having a few senior moments). Then the most vile of abuse is thrown at me by the scammer and of course, I keep up my senior moments - drives them crazy.

But, most people think the best of everybody else ('cept ol' Lep and fellow members of this forum). My advice is to give no information to anybody you don't know personally either at your door or on the phone. You can't lose anything by this.

And don't fall for the ol' flower delivery trick either where a bunch of flowers is being delivered to you and you are asked to pay porterage by credit card. The amount is so small you don't think twice and and comply and your credit card details are read and you feel great that somebody sent you some flowers. A few mins later your account is cleared and you suspect nothing.

Repeat give no information to anybody under any circumstances. It's contra to our DNA but it saves you much money and anguish.

I remember some weeks ago when some contributors on the forum suggested that people who were "caught" by scammers were not of the highest intelligence. Furthermore, some of these posters suggested the bank/financial-institution should not reimburse them. OK! there are grounds for such thoughts but don't think you cannot be scammed. The scammers can have advanced techniques intended to absorb as much information from their victim without even the victim having no knowledge of the fact.

Most people contributing here probably are involved in selling something, products, services, advice, insurance, etc. The astute business will have their employees do several Sales Techniques seminars. These seminars provide perfectly legal ways of selling especially to those selling over the phone. Most of us in sales (in my case formerly in sales) know how easy it is to present a service or product and nurture the possibility of a sale with identifying the need etc. Most of us can carry a conversation with the "customer" and passively convince him/her the need to buy from us and the next step is merely to close the sale and likely collect the commission from our "work" . . . sorry "sales techniques."

The scammers just bring the method a step further whether they are at your door or on your telephone. By the time the white van has done its three point turn (in the case of the flowers above) your account is hit. The telephone scammer probably works even faster.

So you thought you'd never be "caught out" - Think again. Some of these scammers are excellent at what they do and most of them aren't even in the country.

Two stories in today's Irish Times



“Picture the scene – I have a fancy, environmentally-friendly camping stove that my husband bought, which we rarely used and that I am dying to sell,” she writes.


She had advertised it on online classified sites and also on a Facebook camping page.

“I’ve had no interest, so imagine my delight when I get a WhatsApp message asking me if it was still for sale. I said yes and the man – there was a picture of him in the little icon – said he’d like to buy it.”

The would-be buyer asked what condition the stove was in and Emma told him it was in good condition and he then asked if she would be willing to post it to another city.

“I said sure, no problem, and he replied to say that he had organised a courier to pick it up and that if I clicked on the link he’d sent – which appeared to be from An Post and is called something like An Post Safe Post – that the funds would be transferred directly to me from them.”

She says now that that should have been the first red flag. “I hadn’t given him my address and a real person would also have asked first if it suited for a courier to collect. However, I was so thrilled to have finally sold the damn stove that I decided to give my brain the day off and I proceeded to fall – hook, line and sinker – for the scam.”

She clicked on the link and it told her An Post had received payment for postage directly from the purchaser “and that if I entered my credit card details the balance of funds would be transferred to me. I obligingly entered all my credit card details and then it said that I needed to enter the balance on my card.”