Ep 44Scammed Out of $20,000
Someone printed fake copies of my checks and started cashing them
Aliza (scam victim) & Marc Hirschkowitz
Scammed Out of $20,000
with Aliza (scam victim) & Marc Hirschkowitz
Trust less, right? It can't it can't hurt to trust less in this situation.
More moments · 5
Try this · top 3
Quotes
“It could happen to anyone in the right moment.”
“Don't feel like you're being a jerk for for hanging up, calling back, for feeling suspicious.”
“If you send a wire and somehow you get conned and it goes to the wrong place, the likelihood of you ever seeing that money again is next to nothing.”
“Don't ever click on the link from the email.”
“If there's a sense of immediacy and like you must send money right away to this, maybe it's real, but it's not likely.”
“You can put in a career worth of work and if you're not careful at the age of 64, that can get wiped out.”
Takeaways
- 1 A fake USPS 'redelivery' text collected a $3 card payment. Weeks later a caller using the bank's real caller ID posed as the fraud department.
- 2 Over several days and hours of calm, friendly calls, the scammer collected verification codes and personal details while posing to the real bank as the customer, and the $20,000 wire went through.
- 3 Red flags only made sense later: being asked for codes the bank says it will never request, being told not to log in and to delete texts, and no hold music.
- 4 Calling the bank didn't stop it at first. Three times the real bank sent the victim back to wait for the scammer.
- 5 Persistence paid off: pressing the bank's own mistakes and escalating led to a full credit from the bank within about two weeks, not a recalled wire.
- 6 Scam operations are run like companies, some with call centers, playbooks and even HR, plus US 'mules' to add credibility. The scams change every few months.
- 7 A title agent caught fake printed copies of his company checks through daily reconciliation. Every check you hand out carries your account details.
- 8 Card fraud is usually covered if reported quickly. An unverified wire is usually gone for good, and the bank may not cover it.
- 9 A hacked email changed a $6 million payoff wire and nobody verified it. The money was saved only because the wire landed after hours.
- 10 Urgency plus emotion (IRS threats, a grandchild in trouble, gift cards) is the classic sign of a scam.