Bank scam costs single mum thousands
A single mum from Wigan has been left in thousands of pounds worth of debt after falling prey to an internet fraudster.
Sarah Smith, 29, of Northcroft, Whelley, lost 1,800 of her own money and a further 2,500 from an overdraft she had never used when the scamster struck, using a bogus email mimicking NatWest's online banking website.
Ms Smith, who has a 16-month-old daughter, was then told by the bank that not only is her money highly unlikely to be recovered, but she was liable for the money swiped from the overdraft, leaving her with a huge debt. Ms Smith said: "I have always been so careful with my money and when they told me I wouldn't get it back I couldn't believe it. I just felt terrible."
On April 29 this year Ms Smith received an email while at work, claiming to be from NatWest, asking her to update the passwords that allow her to use the bank's online banking facility.
She entered her passwords without giving it too much thought and went on a two-week family holiday to Spain.
On her return, Ms Smith saw that her account – which she has held for around 15 years – had been emptied and her overdraft extended and taken to the maximum.
After inquiring at the bank she was shocked to learn she had fallen victim to an online scam, known as phishing.
Click next page for more ...Ms Smith said: "I didn't know anything about phishing.
"I do now, I know everything there is to know about it, I just didn't have any reason to believe I wasn't on that website. It was identical."
Having bought a house for herself and her daughter, Ms Smith lost all the money she had saved to furnish their new home, and mother and daughter are currently living with Ms Smith's parents.
Ms Smith has been told by NatWest that, because she freely entered her details, she broke the bank's term and conditions with regard to security and is liable for the stolen money.
But she believes she should have been contacted by the bank once they saw the account being emptied and has appealed to Wigan MP Neil Turner and made contact with the financial ombudsman.
Ms Smith said: "NatWest immediately increased my overdraft when the transaction was made because I am such a good customer.
"But to me that transaction should have been stopped because it was irregular activity on my account."
NatWest have been aware of phishing scams for some time and have made an effort to warn customers of the danger of responding to phishing emails over the last 12 months.
The bank insist that they would never ask any of their customers for personal information in this way and that a clear warning about phishing was displayed on their website shortly before Ms Smith responded to the phishing email.
A spokesman for NatWest said: "When Miss Smith logged on to to her account, which we know she did at least four times during this period, this warning message would have been displayed each time with the words 'Never respond to an e-mail asking for your personal security information'.
"She would have had to tick the box to confirm she had read this message at least once to enable her to continue to access her information."
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Thursday 02 September 2010
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