Text message paranoia!

[diy_fun_uk]

I'd be interested to know if you think I was or wasn't being paranoid ... bearing in mind you have the benefit of hindsight when I tell my story

Was at mum's last weekend, ordered Chinese online. Came up 'card declined' on the payment system. This was my mum's card. She's with Halifax.

Within 30 secs if that, she receives a text from 'Halifax' (i.e. it had their name at the top of the message trail) saying the card had been declined and she was to reply YES if she had just tried to complete a transaction or NO if she hadn't. Straight away we were slightly dubious. I checked the number online (granted these 'who call me' sites aren't full-proof by any means) and it came up as a scam or nuisance at the very least. We sat pondering what to do. It looked like a mobile number which made us more dubious.

About 30 secs after that, mum's mobile starts to ring, it was an 0333 number. We left it to go to voicemail and again it was someone pertaining to be from Halifax regarding the declined card. We checked the number online and it didn't show on Halifax's website but on the 'who called me' sites it was showing as a possible scam.

To be safe, we decided to call a number on the Halifax website. After being on hold for 1 hr 10 mins we got through to someone, I think possibly in India. Mum had to speak with them as the cardholder which as an elderly women was quite stressful for her, although I was obviously there to prompt her as and when required.

The guy on the phone confirmed both the text message and voicemail were from the Halifax. He further advised the numbers don't show on their website for security reasons and are regularly changed for that same reason. You could tell by his tone he seemed quite surprised that we hadn't simply done as instructed in the text. 'If you had, your card would have been unlocked within 10 minutes' he said. To be doubly safe, mum requested a new card be sent out which displeased him even more.

My point is, there are so many scams these days, some of them quite elaborate, we thought the almost instant text message and call could have been part of a scam. However, because we wanted to be extra vigilant, we ended up being on hold for over an hour when phoning one of their known phone numbers.

Assuming you've not gone through this already, would you, hand on heart, have accepted the text at face value and replied YES or NO?

 

[Stivino]

I just this minute got a text from DPD.

Obviously not from DPD.

 

[ETAF]

probably not, often get text messages about all sorts of things that are scams
i may have used chat , if they have that available to contact someone in Halifax, rather than phone

 

[cwhaley]

Yes I would, as I've had to do many times with NatWest who are particularly vigilant on anti-fraud. I've also had to do it when moving money to people. Fraud checks have really ramped up during the past 4-5 years.

All the card issuer is doing is trying to confirm that it was indeed the card holder trying to make a transaction. They will not ask for the pin number, nor any details about the card -- they will simply confirm they are speaking with the account holder and run through a few recent transactions. In response to the text, simply follow the questions. It's all really standard.

All you have to make sure is that you don't give away any information relating to the card, i.e. the pin number, the long card number, etc. The second they ask for specific details such as these, you hang up. A scammer can't get money from you if you don't give them the details on the card.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Yes I would, as I've had to do many times with NatWest who are particularly vigilant on anti-fraud. I've also had to do it when moving money to people. Fraud checks have really ramped up during the past 4-5 years.

All the card issuer is doing is trying to confirm that it was indeed the card holder trying to make a transaction. They will not ask for the pin number, nor any details about the card -- they will simply confirm they are speaking with the account holder and run through a few recent transactions. In response to the text, simply follow the questions. It's all really standard.

All you have to make sure is that you don't give away any information relating to the card, i.e. the pin number, the long card number, etc. The second they ask for specific details such as these, you hang up. A scammer can't get money from you if you don't give them the details on the card.

No I get that, I've used bank anti-fraud measures before. I think what concerned us was the 'card declined' message on the payment screen quickly followed by the text message. Because we'd input all the card details, we concluded the scammers might already have that info.

With hindsight we probably were over paranoid, just wondered what other people's views are

 

[cwhaley]

No I get that, I've used bank anti-fraud measures before. I think what concerned us was the 'card declined' message on the payment screen quickly followed by the text message. Because we'd input all the card details, we concluded the scammers might already have that info.

With hindsight we probably were over paranoid, just wondered what other people's views are

I think you were just being over-cautious, which I do sympathise with especially given the circumstances.

For me the text has come almost immediately after the attempted payment, which makes sense seeing as it's the bank both declining the payment and then subsequently alerting you to this fact. Before the texts NatWest called me when I was in Ikea once just over ten years ago. They said the transaction I was making was out of my normal spending habits (I cannot stand Ikea so they were right!) I had to run through things with them at the till.

If potential scammers had your info from you inputting the details, they wouldn't make any contact with you after that as they'd have what they needed.

 

[Justin Passing]

Yes, with hindsight over worried, but there are so many very convincing scams going I don't blame you.
By the time they'd called you they already had the transaction details and your phone number so you weren't likely to be giving more away with a sms "yes".

 

[The Samaritan]

One needs to be alert 24/7 and have the ability to decipher the trash in good time, fraud and genuine messages.

 

[Justin Passing]

I bought a car once at Car Giant, about £20k. I hadn't used the card for anything else for months, so had pre-warned the bank.
Car Giant was staffed entirely, it seemed, by Indian folk.
About an hour later I had a call from the bank. Had I just attempted to buy jewelry for £15k, in Delhi?

 

[The Samaritan]

I bought a car once at Car Giant, about £20k. I hadn't used the card for anything else for months, so had pre-warned the bank.
Car Giant was staffed entirely, it seemed, by Indian folk.
About an hour later I had a call from the bank. Had I just attempted to buy jewelry for £15k, in Delhi?

Noted and ...

 

[Mottie]

I bought a car once at Car Giant, about £20k. I hadn't used the card for anything else for months, so had pre-warned the bank.
Car Giant was staffed entirely, it seemed, by Indian folk.
About an hour later I had a call from the bank. Had I just attempted to buy jewelry for £15k, in Delhi?

I had something similar when I was paying by card for our Evoque in the Land Rover dealers years ago. They didn't ask the standard stuff - date of birth, mothers maiden name etc but obscure questions such as what is the name of the road opposite your house and what number bus goes past the top of your road......

 

[JohnD]

When I get calls from people claiming to be from my bank, I ask them similar questions.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

I think what also threw me slightly was the declined part. My banks counter-fraud dept contacted me x years back checking 3 or 4 transactions I'd made in quick succession with Curry's. They contacted me shortly after I'd made the purchases (within an hour or so), however I'd been able to complete the transaction. Had I said 'wasn't me' they would have then cancelled the payment and issued me with a new card or whatever.

 

[The Samaritan]

I think what also threw me slightly was the declined part. My banks counter-fraud dept contacted me x years back checking 3 or 4 transactions I'd made in quick succession with Curry's. They contacted me shortly after I'd made the purchases (within an hour or so), however I'd been able to complete the transaction. Had I said 'wasn't me' they would have then cancelled the payment and issued me with a new card or whatever.

You are a careful person, credit to you.

 

[securespark]

I can't believe the Halifax guy was surprised and annoyed.

Of all people, bank staff should perfectly understand customers who are extremely cautious.

In fact, they ought to be surprised if customers automatically do as a text message suggests.