How this scam works
Scammers use phone scams, also known as vishing (voice phishing), to fish for personal information over the phone.
They try to be as convincing as possible to mislead you and steal your information, including e-Banking credentials, to access your accounts and make fraudulent online transactions.
Their most common methods include:
- Pretending to be associates or government employees. They claim to be accountants or agents acting on behalf of Alpha Bank or other organizations. Under the false pretence that they need your details to pay you a government benefit, they ask for your personal information, including your e-Banking credentials and card numbers and PINs.
- Responding to an ad you have posted. They pretend to be interested in buying something you have made available for sale. They are persistent and nag you to share your personal details, including your e-Banking credentials and card numbers and PINs, under the pretence that they want to transfer the payment for the purchase right away.
- Expressing interest in hotel bookings, restaurant reservations etc. They are persistent and nag you to share your personal details, including your e-Banking credentials and card numbers and PINs, under the pretence that they want to transfer the payment right away to confirm the booking/reservation.
- Pretending to be fake customers. They pretend to be customers of your company, wishing to immediately prepay for their order or the service you are providing.
How to protect yourself
Such phone scams usually have some telling signs.
Caller unknown
Calls are made from numbers unknown to you. You should avoid answering such calls, and under no circumstances should you give away your company’s e-Banking credentials or card PINs.
Misleading instructions
Scammers usually have a system to convince you to follow their instructions, under the pretence that money will be transferred to your company account faster if you do. They practically prompt you to perform a series of actions so that they are able to steal your company’s e-Banking credentials, actually resulting in you sending money to them, instead of receiving any. Under no circumstances should you follow their instructions.
Credentials
Most of the time they will ask for your company’s e-Banking credentials, the 6-digit myAlpha Code you may have received through Viber, SMS or the myAlpha Code device, or your card PIN. It goes without saying that you must never share this information with anyone.
Find out how to protect your credentials.
