Caller ID spoofing: Online fraudsters got money from a 50-year-old in Lungau via a manipulated telephone number

The scam started last Saturday. A 50-year-old woman from Tweng received a text message asking her to change her account credentials. A link was sent in the short message that the Lungau woman should use.

Two days later, on Monday, the woman was called at 7 p.m. by a supposed service technician from the bank and asked about confirmation of the access data from a previous text message or e-mail. The phone number that appeared on the cell phone actually matched the bank, but was a technical forgery (“caller ID spoofing”). The supposed service employee pretended that her account had been hacked and infected by a Trojan.

The woman was then misled about the usual two-step authentication: The “s.Identity” app was used to confirm the entries. As soon as the confirmation message changes on the victim’s cell phone display, the woman should carry out this confirmation using the “s.Identity” app.

Subsequently, postings to confirm any transfers or transfers of large amounts of money from the linked company and private accounts appeared again and again.

It all happened very quickly and the “s.Identity” app was also confirmed for the unknown perpetrator. A total of five referrals were made.

As a result of the transfers, the woman from Lungau received an e-mail from her bank immediately after the end of the telephone call, which confirmed that the “s.Identity” for internet banking had been successfully activated.

Now it dawned on the woman that she had been taken in by scammers. The woman from Lungau then had the accounts blocked via the bank’s blocking hotline and went to the police. The almost 38,000 euros have disappeared.

Banks warn their customers

The scam involving technically manipulated phone numbers has also raised concerns among domestic banks. The Raiffeisen Association has already issued corresponding information folders, with content that is absolutely universal:

• Through technical manipulations it is possible to have any number appear on the caller ID when making a phone call. Fraudsters can therefore use any telephone number – including your bank’s – for their calls.
• Unfortunately, cases of fraud have already occurred where customers believed they were actually connected to their bank because of the manipulated caller ID.
• So always be careful and never give out login details, passwords or other sensitive information over the phone – your bank would never ask you to do so.