Terrifying high-tech bank scam drains your life…
Noel Phillips can’t imagine he was cleaned out so shortly — and simply.
Phillips’ world was shattered after being robbed of 1000’s of {dollars} by business imposter scammers. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
The New York millennial was bled dry earlier this yr by a group of business imposter scammers who used cellphone quantity spoofing technology — software program used to misleadingly alter caller ID info — to empty his bank account, taking all of his life financial savings, totaling practically $30,000.
“It’s devastating,” Phillips, 33, a journalist and an NYC transplant from London, completely told The Post. “I can still hear the voices of the people who called me, posing as staff of Chase Bank, claiming there had been fraudulent exercise on my account.
“They used fear tactics to basically hypnotize me into handing over all the money I’d worked so hard to earn and save over the last four years.”
Deborah Moss, a 65-year-old caretaker from Northern California, was beforehand thunderstruck by a comparable wave of devastation when an imposter scammer focused her, draining her Chase account of a surprising $162,000 in 2020.
“I started screaming like you wouldn’t believe,” Moss not too long ago told The Post. “I was, like, ‘Oh, my f—king God.’ I was just hysterical. That was all my money.”
Phillips, who’d just give up his job before being scammed out of his life financial savings, says he’s desperately tried to observe down his fraudsters, hoping to in the end deliver them to justice. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
That’s the sinister trickery of business imposter scams, which have been on a regular rise, outpacing romance scams, household and buddy scams, and tech help scams over the past 5 years.
The crime now ranks as the No.1 shopper criticism of 2025, per data supplied to The Post by the Federal Trade Commission.
As of late June, the FTC, which protects people from misleading and unjust business practices, has been inundated with over 516,000 imposter scam complaints — totaling a huge $1,691 million in losses.
To get their paws on a goal’s money, imposter scammers often call — or e-mail, textual content or direct message — a sufferer, pretending to be a consultant from a trusted, established company. They sometimes declare that there’s been some type of privateness breach or unauthorized dealings on their account.
After spinning a falsified yarn about an alleged fake pas, the wolves in sheep’s clothes then create a sense of urgency and panic about the state of affairs, convincing their prey to unexpectedly switch large sums of money or disclose personal info to keep away from any additional malfeasance.
But in actuality, they’re the unhealthy guys, siphoning money and information for their own grasping gain.
And imposter scammers don’t restrict their villainy to masquerading as reps for financial establishments like Bank of America or TD Bank — just two of the firms that Upper East Side granny Nina Mortellito, 86, is suing in New York state court, alleging they failed to shield her from a $700,000 con.
In August 2023, she was allegedly focused via a pop-up window that falsely warned that her bank accounts have been about to be hacked, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Over the course of 9 months, Mortellito – who suffers from age-related reminiscence points – was allegedly satisfied by fraudsters to make a collection of uncommon withdrawals, totaling wherever from tens of 1000’s to tons of of 1000’s of {dollars}, from Merrill Lynch, TD Bank and UBS Bank accounts, according to court papers.
Although the banks have been conscious she was weak to scammers, they didn’t raise any alarms, the lawsuit charged.
The Post has reached out to Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, TD Bank and UBS Bank for remark.
Robert Georges, Mortellito’s attorney, told The Post he’s inundated with bank imposter fraud circumstances from victims plagued with “devastation, embarrassment, confusion and upset” following the violation.
“There’s this fear about how they’re going to live without their life savings,” he continued. “This is a well-known epidemic in America. All the banks are conscious that this is a major drawback, but we don’t really feel that banks are doing a affordable job to shield people.
“We’re bringing these lawsuits to hopefully effect change.”
Mortellito and her lawyer are in search of unspecified damages against the banks, whom they’re suing for negligence, The Post beforehand reported.
Business imposter scams have risen steadily over the past 5 years. 2B – stock.adobe.com
In addition to impersonating bankers in the title of fraud, ne’er-do-wells also generally pose as customer support staffers for fashionable retailers, supply service couriers or utility company employees, just to title a few.
Christopher Brown, a lawyer with the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices, calls the swindles “sophisticated” and credit the prevalence of artificial intelligence with serving to fraudsters appear reputable.
“AI can certainly amplify the scams, making them more believable,” Brown told The Post, noting the multitude of AI-powered spoofing and voice-hijacking instruments accessible to perps. “They’re trying to gain your trust, making you believe they are who they’re claiming to be.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) studies that U.S. customers obtain roughly 4 billion spoofed calls, including automated robocalls, from money-hungry scammers each month.
To fight the disaster, the FCC not too long ago carried out its STIR/SHAKEN framework. It’s an industry-standard caller ID authentication technology that validates the legitimacy of calls, permitting the cellphone company of the receiver to confirm that a call is, in fact, from the quantity displayed on the caller ID.
Still, tech-savvy scoundrels handle to circumvent the blocks. Brown encourages people to stay vigilant.
“Don’t [automatically] trust the caller ID because it might be spoofed,” he suggested. “And you should not provide financial information to someone who calls you out of the blue.”
It’s a mistake Phillips, who lives in East New York, Brooklyn, needs he may undo.
Believing that the spoofed call was reputable, Phillips adopted the scammers’ orders, transferring his funds into the “hidden decoy accounts” that the impostors claimed they’d set up in his title. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
Just seconds before getting a cellphone call from would-be wrongdoers, he’d obtained an alert from his Chase app, claiming an unauthorized transaction of $500 had been withdrawn from his account.
“The timing of the call was immaculate,” said Phillips. “After they explained that my account had [been hacked], I immediately asked, ‘Well, how do I know you’re Chase Bank?’ Then I hung up, Googled the number for Chase, and it was the same number that had called me.”
But the thieves had spoofed the bank’s cellphone quantity and immediately called back from it.
He answered — and that would in the end change his life for the more severe.
The Brooklynite remembers speaking to at least 5 different people pretending to be bank staffers and law enforcement brokers. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
“They proceeded to tell me that my account was under attack, and that they suspected employees at my local branch had stolen my personal details,” he recalled. “They said they’d launched an investigation, and that I needed to move my money into a hidden or ‘decoy’ account that already had my name on it.”
Phillips started panicking.
There wasn’t just one voice scaring him into submission — there have been at least 5, even people posting as law enforcement and federal brokers.
“There was the ambient sounds of a call center,” added Phillips, now realizing the background fake noise was seemingly an AI sound impact device.
“And everyone had solid American accents,” remembered the Brit. “So I’m thinking, ‘OK, this is not the typical call from abroad. This is legitimate.’”
The “devastating” realization that he’d just fallen sufferer to an imposter fraud was nearly too troublesome for Phillips to bear. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
After being transferred from one hustler to another, Phillips was instructed to go to his local Chase department and switch his money into a number of “decoy” accounts they’d created, instructing him not to disclose to any bank staff the explanation for doing so.
The scammers “were very good at manipulating me and telling me what to do,” Phillips lamented. “While at the bank, I secretly had them listening to everything that was happening through my ear pods.”
It wasn’t until the ultimate {dollars} of his $30K nest egg — money he’d stashed for prolonged getaways to Thailand and England — have been transferred that Phillips realized he’d been had.
It was an agonizing aha second.
“I remember feeling so wounded,” said Phillips. “My complete world just got here crashing down within the few minutes it took to stroll into the bank.
“I was completely devastated.”
Moss tells The Post that she spent over a decade saving money in order to buy a new home and do home renovations. picture by Chris Hardy
California-based sufferer Moss was focused by a fraudster who referred to herself as “Miss Barbara,” a rep for the bank, who called claiming that Moss’ ATM card had been compromised and that she’d be issued a new one in the mail.
Miss Barbara, a sweet-sounding Southern belle, already had Moss’ cellphone quantity, handle and banking info. The chiseler claimed that all she needed from Moss was a three-digit code that she’d obtained via textual content from the bank.
An unwitting Moss recited the code to Barbara, not realizing that those numbers have been really granting the bilker authorization to make a $32,000 wire switch from her account.
And that was just the first grab.
Both the FTC and FCC warn that business impostors, including bank fraud scammers, are on the rise. NongAsimo – stock.adobe.com
Barbara called Moss for more than a week, each time claiming that her ATM card had been misplaced in the mail, and asking her to read off the new three-digit code she’d been messaged.
After more than 10 calls, an admittedly “annoyed” Moss, who’d just relocated to a rural space with her accomplice, took the 40-minute journey into city to get a new card at a Chase department.
However, instead of a piece of plastic, the entrepreneur was given the shock of her life — and nearly no sympathy.
“The bank manager pulled up my account and said, ‘There’s no money in your account, whatsoever. As a matter of fact, in the last week, you’ve [accrued a] $989 deficit that you owe us,’” she recalled, alleging that the employee threatened to have her eliminated from the premises if she didn’t stop screaming.
“I went to the cops, and they pretty much laughed in my face,” Moss claimed. “They said, ‘Oh, man, forget it. You’ll never get that money back.’ They didn’t do anything. There was no investigation.”
The West Coaster claims she reached out to her bank and police, as properly as local and federal authorities officers for help. picture by Chris Hardy
Phillips alleges having a equally disagreeable interplay with the New York Police Department immediately after being victimized.
“I remember walking into the police station the same day this happened. I told an officer I’d been scammed out of thousands,” said the London native. “He laughed actually loud and said, ‘You’re f—ked.’
“I was in disbelief,” continued Phillips, including that he’s more not too long ago been contacted with an investigator, who allegedly “apologized” for his colleague’s conduct, and mapped out a plan to subpoena Chase for any info concerning the bank’s accounts in which monies have been transferred.
The Post has reached out to the NYPD for remark.
While both Phillips and Moss have been banking with Chase at the time of their respective scams, business fraudsters can impersonate nearly any company in an effort to pull off a heist. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
Both he and Moss individually claimed to The Post that Chase also failed to offer them any help toward bringing their respective vandals to justice or recovering their stolen funds.
“The bigger injustice than a scammer stealing money is when your bank doesn’t help customers who fall victim to such a crime,” said Phillips, noting that in the UK, financial establishments repay victims of fraud up to £85,000 (roughly $113,000).
Financial establishments in the U.S., however, are usually not required to reimburse victims of bank fraud under federal law, per the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
“In America, the last thing you expect is for your bank to turn its back on you,” he griped, underscoring how “stupid” he’s been made to really feel for falling sufferer to fraud. Phillips is contemplating taking legal motion against Chase.
“All my money is gone, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever get it back.”
A spokesperson for Chase declined to remark on the specifics of either Phillips’ or Moss’ claims.
Thanks to her benefactor, Moss has been in a position to resume life with a renewed sense of trust in people. picture by Chris Hardy
However, they did share helpful advice for avoiding comparable assaults.
“fraudmers are increasingly using technology like phone spoofing to impersonate trusted institutions,” the rep told The Post, “which is why we regularly remind everyone your bank will never call and ask for your account information, tell you to transfer money to ‘protect’ it, insist you lie to bankers about a transaction, or pressure you to act immediately.”
“If you encounter any of these red flags — whether by phone, text, email or online — hang up and call the number on the back of your card.”
‘All my money is gone, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever get it back.’Noel Phillips
The suggestions would have been helpful to Moss at the time of her violation. But even without them, she miraculously recovered every penny of her stolen funds — no thanks to the bank or law enforcement.
The six-figure sum got here from a random Good Samaritan.
“My story made national news, and I got a call from this lady who said, ‘I saw your story on TV, and I want to write you a check for $162,000,’” recalled Moss. “I didn’t know her. It was totally crazy.”
The kindly stranger — who Moss selected not to determine for privateness — was an aged, rich lady from Napa County, California. She had no hidden agendas, nor any expectation for reimbursement.
She just wished to do the fitting factor, says Moss, including that the verify was like manna from heaven that restored her religion in humanity.
“[The woman and I] don’t talk much,” she confessed. “But I write her every New Year, telling her she’s modified my life.
“And I’ll do that until the day I die.”
Here are Chase Bank’s suggestions for avoiding imposter scams
Owing to the prevalence of artificial intelligence and spoofing applied sciences, authorities advise customers against trusting the cellphone numbers that pop up on their caller IDs, as properly as the voices on the other end of the road. NY Post Design
Do not reply to cellphone, textual content or web requests for money or access to your pc or bank accounts. Banks will never call, textual content or e-mail asking for you to ship money to your self or anybody else to stop fraud.
If you obtain a call from somebody claiming to be from your bank, the best factor to do is hold up immediately and call your bank at the quantity on the back of your debit or credit card.
A bank will never call and ask you to confirm info about your account, but we could need to confirm info when you call us.
Consider including a call protector app to your cellphone to flag calls that are seemingly scams. Set up a code phrase with your close circle and always verify callers by contacting them back on a cellphone quantity you already know to be theirs.
Chase Credit Journey presents free credit and identification monitoring, including alerts to let you already know if your personal info is uncovered in a data breach or on the darkish web. You don’t have to be a Chase buyer to use it.
The bank also hosts more than 1,000 free, open-to-the-public workshops targeted on fraud and scam prevention at branches yearly, an average of three per day.
If you’re feeling you’ve been scammed, contact your bank to talk about how to best shield your banking info and confirm current transactions to guarantee no fraudulent exercise on your account. Report the incident to the FTC at ftc.gov/criticism.
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