Scammer scams caller ID in bank fraud – 05/10/2023 – Market

The bank customer receives a call identified with the number of his bank branch. On the other end of the line, an embezzler instructs him to install a remote access application used for maintenance.

The case mixes two scams that have become common: spoofing and the ghost hand scam.

In spoofing, cybercriminals use techniques to spoof the agency’s phone number. From there, fraudsters emulate a scene to impersonate the institution.

Fraud does not require the installation of malicious programs on the agency’s or the victim’s phone, says Bradesco. “In this way, the numbers of financial institutions are susceptible to these scams, as well as any other telephone numbers of other companies.”

In the phantom hand scam, an installed remote access program guarantees criminals control over the smartphone and, consequently, the bank application.

It allows criminals to seek bank access passwords registered in notepad, emails and WhatsApp messages or, for example, transfer via Pix.

Turning off the device or keeping it disconnected prevents scammers from continuing to search for passwords or carry out transactions. Scammers, however, perform operations with the app in the background or lower the screen brightness. Therefore, they may go unnoticed.

A Bradesco client, a psychologist from Pernambuco who asked to have her identity preserved, received a call from scammers using her bank branch number, except for the name of her manager. The criminal asked if she had transferred a certain amount, to hear a negative, and transfer it to an alleged “security sector.”

In this new connection, a partner of the swindler asked the psychologist to make a pix to prevent the announced fraud. She didn’t make that transaction, called her manager and confirmed the scam.

According to Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks), criminals can still use the agency’s phone bait to ask for information about the card number, security key and passwords linked to the bank account.

Criminals can ask for a validation code to steal access to WhatsApp. Today, the messaging app also allows you to carry out financial transactions.

The businessman from Ceará, Luciano Farias, went through a similar situation, when he received a call from the Aldeota Agency, from Banco do Nordeste, of which his father is a customer.

Questioned by the report, Banco do Nordeste claims that the creation of false telephone exchanges of financial institutions is a recurring fraud against the banking market.

“The subject has already been dealt with in meetings held by Febraban with representatives of telephone operators and with Anatel, seeking solutions to make it difficult for scammers to register and open numbers and centers”, says Banco do Nordeste.

“In this type of approach, fraudsters use ‘masks’ to display the bank branch’s phone number on the customer’s cell phone display. There is no employee participation or use of the financial institution’s facilities,” he adds.

The Public Security Secretariat of São Paulo states that it did not find any police reports about cases similar to Dantas’. Victims need to register occurrences at the digital police station, so that suspects can be identified. It is not necessary to report alleged culprits.

SEE FRAUD ALERT FACTORS

Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks) calls fraud a false employee coup. Criminals can apply it without bypassing caller ID.

According to the federation, it is worth paying attention to these factors:

• Banks do not call their customers through telephone switchboard numbers
• They never call the customer asking for password or card number
• They never call to ask for transfers or any type of payment