A new telephone scam aimed at obtaining personal banking information and stealing money from victims’ accounts has been reported in Madeira.
This time, the fraudsters are posing as Santander employees and can even make the bank’s official telephone number appear on the recipient’s screen.
A JM reader said he received a call on Wednesday from a woman claiming to be a bank employee. She asked him to confirm a supposed bank transfer.
Suspicious of the call, the man asked whether the conversation could be recorded. According to his account, the caller agreed without hesitation, suggesting that those behind the scam are well prepared and accustomed to answering questions intended to make the call appear legitimate.
The reader continued the conversation to discover how far the attempted fraud would go. After answering several questions, he eventually told the caller that he was not even a Santander customer. The woman immediately ended the call.
Curious about its origin, he later checked the telephone number displayed on his phone. To his surprise, it appeared to be Santander’s official contact number.
He then contacted the bank directly and was told that fraudsters can manipulate the caller information shown on a victim’s screen, making it appear that a call has come from a genuine bank number. This practice is commonly known as “caller ID spoofing.”
Santander has reiterated that customers should never disclose banking information, security or authentication codes, passwords, card details, or their NIB or IBAN during an unsolicited telephone call, even when the caller appears to be contacting them from an official bank number.
Anyone receiving such a call should end it and contact the bank independently, using the number printed on their bank card or published on its official website.
The police have also warned that the appearance of an institution’s genuine name or telephone number on a phone screen does not, by itself, prove that the call is legitimate.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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