Modern Methods of Stealing Money from Bank Cards
Author: @iskatel007
Date: January 27, 2020
Method #1 – The Fake Bank Employee
How it works:
You receive a call from someone claiming to be a bank employee. Their goal is to gain your trust—they tell the potential victim that the bank has allegedly detected an unauthorized attempt to withdraw funds from their account, and for security reasons, the transaction has been blocked until confirmation is received from the verified client.
The fake bank employee then asks you to verify the devices that have access to your online banking account—supposedly to find out your smartphone model so they can “remove a virus” from your operating system. They will ask you to install an app that allows remote access to your smartphone. If the victim follows these instructions, the scammer can intercept SMS messages from the bank and various online services, log in to the banking account, and transfer funds to a fraudulent account.
What scammers need to know:
- Full name
- Mobile phone number
- Smartphone model
What you should do:
If you receive a call and are asked unexpected, strange, or suspicious questions, simply hang up and call your bank yourself using the phone number listed on the bank’s official website. Explain the situation to them directly.
Method #2 – Social Engineering (Bank Call)
How it works:
You receive a call from someone claiming to be a bank employee, and the number displayed on your phone matches your bank’s official number. They tell you that your card may be blocked or that someone tried to withdraw money from it. It’s not always easy to recognize a scammer, as criminals use caller ID spoofing to make it look like the call is coming from the real bank number.
Theft from personal accounts happens in 97% of cases through social engineering—that is, deceiving a person by misleading them.
What scammers need to know:
If you receive a call and are asked unexpected, strange, or suspicious questions, simply hang up and call your bank yourself using the phone number listed on the bank’s official website. Explain the situation to them directly.
What you should do:
If you receive a call and are asked unexpected, strange, or suspicious questions, simply hang up and call your bank yourself using the phone number listed on the bank’s official website. Explain the situation to them directly.
Real-Life Example
Let me share a recent personal experience. First, I don’t use Sberbank cards (for many reasons), but I received a call on my personal phone from a “bank” number. A polite woman started telling me that someone tried to withdraw money from my account, and so on. I immediately realized it was a scam and decided to play along. I asked how much they tried to withdraw, how long ago, etc.
After 1-2 minutes of conversation, we got to the main point 😉 The woman started asking me to provide information about my card. When she asked her questions, I calmly told her she had the wrong person—I don’t have a Sberbank card 😉 You should have heard her reaction—she broke character, was clearly surprised, and shouted, “What do you mean you don’t?!”… and hung up 😉
Remember, in 98% of cases, you can only lose your money because of your own trustfulness.
About the Author
Prepared by: @iskatel007
Private Detective / Security Analyst / Information Security Specialist
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