Lost all your money because of a phone call, what to do to avoid becoming a victim?

The warning was issued by the American technology giant in the context of nurse Avalon Grimes losing all her savings of 24,000 USD (nearly 600 million VND) after receiving a call from a fake number application available on the App Store.

"My life savings were wiped out in one phone call," the American nurse told CBS News . She reported the incident to the police, who said it was a "spoof call." The scammer used an app that could spoof her Chase Bank phone number, making her unrecognizable.

Apple warns users to be extremely cautious with unknown calls. Illustration: Dreamstime

The victim said the contact number that called her phone was the same as the one printed on the back of her Chase Bank credit card, so she didn't suspect anything and followed the instructions. After just a few steps of providing information, the scammer convinced the victim to transfer $24,000 in savings to another "safer" account.

"I transferred $24,000 to another account because I thought the person on the other end of the line was a kind Chase Bank employee. After transferring all my life savings, I realized I had been scammed," the nurse said.

Information from T-Mobile, the carrier Grimes was using, showed that the phone number that called her was not actually the number printed on the back of her Chase Bank card.

Grimes was targeted by a new type of app that allows for impersonating the IDs of certain organizations and banks. They have appeared quite a lot recently and are being exploited for fraudulent purposes, but still exist on the App Store.

To avoid falling victim to similar scams, cybersecurity experts recommend that users never repeat to the caller any security codes that have been sent to your phone.

Also, do not answer calls from numbers you suspect. If you answer the call, hang up immediately.

Do not press any buttons and do not reveal personal information such as citizen identification number, social insurance, health insurance, credit card number or any passwords.

Don't trust any caller unless you know for sure who they are. Artificial intelligence makes it much easier for scammers to fake your identity, even impersonating your loved ones.

For calls on behalf of law enforcement, the listener also needs to stay calm, take a deep breath and say to the other end of the line "please come see me for work".

Source: https://nld.com.vn/mat-sach-tien-vi-mot-cuoc-goi-lam-gi-de-khong-tro-thanh-nan-nhan-196240214114255504.htm