Banking warning issued after fraudster attempts ‘smartest scam ever’
A woman has issued a warning to others after admitting she recently fell victim to the “smartest scam ever”, which almost cost her a substantial amount of money.
Bec, a Starling bank customer, claimed she received a telephone call from an “Englishman” purporting to be from their fraud department who informed her of “suspicious activity” on her account within the previous two hours. In a TikTok video, she confessed: “I’ve been such an idiot and not noticed the red flags. I questioned it straight away as I hadn’t received any notifications that money had left my account… But he told me those notifications had been blocked because the account was under investigation – it was an obvious red flag but I didn’t clock it.”
She revealed the conversation progressed, with the scammer telling her that one notification would be released to verify whether she recognised the transaction. “The transaction I received from Starling was a £170 one to a Domino’s Pizza in Ireland – and that clarified to me that he was actually from the fraud team,” she explained.
“He also told me that I couldn’t go into my account as I would be breaching security.” Following his instructions, Bec said the call quickly became “scary”, however.
“He then asked me some security questions and because I thought this must be legit, I gave him the answers,” she said. “He also mentioned my ‘other accounts’… I do have a Monzo account and he stated that someone had taken out a loan for £20,000 in my name.”
This led her to inspect her Monzo account while still on the phone, where she noticed her Starling bank card had been linked – a detail she found “really strange”. Bec recalled: “I also remember that I received an email from Clear Score on Monday that a new credit agreement had been added to my account. Obviously I hadn’t applied for anything so when I clicked onto Clear Score nothing was showing up on there, which to me further clarified what he was saying.”
The fraudster informed Bec that Starling “works closely” with Monzo, which prompted her suspicions, however. She began to ponder why he wasn’t providing clear instructions, but instead kept probing her with more questions. “This is where I started to click because he said to me I needed to go into my Monzo account and reapply for the loan,” she explained: “But why would I do that? After telling him I wasn’t prepared to do that, he put the phone down and then it clicked. I couldn’t believe I had been that stupid.”
Concluding her clip, Bec told her followers that she immediately contacted Starling who reassured her that no money had been lost. “I still don’t know how he managed to send me the notification,” she confessed.
She added: “I froze my Starling card and completely closed down my Monzo account. I just can’t believe how professional he was to even send an email about the new credit agreement from Clear Score and link my Starling and Monzo accounts. I don’t know how he managed it. It’s so scary. Please be vigilant – they are so sophisticated nowadays.”
Writing in response, one TikTok user warned: “If anyone ever calls from your bank re ‘fraud’ get a ‘ref number’ and put the phone down! Call the fraud number directly or visit bank yourself. Never give any details over the phone.”
To which Bec admitted: “I knew this too. I’m such a numpty. Mine was a withheld number so I don’t know where the call came from but he was definitely English… but he must have been in Ireland.”
A second person advised: “The fraud team will never phone you. They will instantly freeze or block your card and you have to phone your bank to get put through to the fraud team.” While a third commended Bec: “Thank you for taking the time to share this, everyone is so busy this time of year and you have probably saved someone’s Christmas.”
And a fourth TikTok user wrote: “It’s scary how advanced they are. I know someone where the victim opened their bank app and seen transactions the scammer mentioned. Scammer was also able to tell the victim other genuine transactions on the account. The bank has no idea how they done it.”
On the company’s official website, Starling advises its customers to remain vigilant and to “always remember” the bank would never:
- Ask you to make or approve payments to “keep your account safe”
- Ask you to assist with an investigation
- Call or text you about fraud, without messaging you in the app first
- Ask for your PINs or passwords
The information continued: “If someone calls you saying they’re from Starling Bank, you can verify if they’re telling the truth by opening your app and checking the ‘Call status’ banner.”
