Inside an Indian scam factory: The cynical tricks used to steal elderly victims' savings exposed
Impersonation scams see fraudsters pose as officials like bank workers or police
Charlie Martin is desperately trying to stop corrupt bank branch staff from stealing customers’ hard-earned savings.
He spends his days warning hundreds of British savers about the imminent danger their accounts are in.
Charlie is part of a bank’s fraud investigations team and has pinpointed accounts being targeted by rogue employees.
The money will be stolen from under savers’ noses unless they cash it out and post it to a safe location, via a scheme run by the Post Office and the bank.
Or at least that’s what he and his highly trained colleagues would like you to believe.
Casting the net: Scammer call centres a use special devices that can make 10,000 calls to landlines at the same time
For, rather than being a valiant anti-fraud hero, Charlie is the ringleader of a prolific fraud factory in Kolkata targeting British households.
The call centre blitzes up to 30,000 UK landlines a day in a slick operation that scares people into handing over their life savings.
Millions of Britons have been targeted with this type of impersonation scam, where fraudsters pose as bank workers, police or other officials.
As much as £78.9 million was stolen through such scams last year, with 10,594 cases of victims losing money, according to banking trade body UK Finance.
Impersonation scams have risen 13 per cent over the past year, in particular those where fraudsters pretend to be a police officer or bank employee, according to Lloyds Bank. Victims lost more than £3,000 on average last year.
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Most people who get scam phone calls cotton on before falling victim and just hang up. But Money Mail has been working with BBC TV’s fraud-busting show Scam Interceptors and can reveal what happens when victims don’t put the phone down.
Plus, we expose the clever tricks scammers use to try to part you from your cash.
Unbeknown to Charlie, hundreds of his calls were being secretly listened to — and recorded — by an ethical hacker for Scam Interceptors.
Charlie’s organised fraud group, which the BBC has named OTS, is one of the largest and most sophisticated operations ever exposed on the show, which is made with the Open University.
With 25-30 scammers on the go at the same time, working eight-hour shifts from 8am UK time each day, the number of attempted and successful scams is ‘shockingly high’, says BBC presenter Nick Stapleton, who listened in to many calls. ‘They were employing people who were very good and had an incredibly effective script,’ he says.
The Indian operation runs two scams — one in which it claims to be your bank’s fraud team and another where operatives purport to work for Amazon.
In the Kolkata call centre, five to ten professional fraudsters focus entirely on impersonating UK banks. They use a special device to make 10,000 calls to landlines at the same time, Nick says.
Those who answer hear a recorded message telling them suspicious activity has been detected on their bank account.
They are told they can speak to an anti-fraud specialist at their card payment provider and asked to press one to speak to Mastercard or two to speak to Visa.
Nick says: ‘The system works as a whittle down — of the 10,000 landlines called, say 1,000 answer the phone, then 100 go for it and press a key. So you only need to employ about ten scammers to handle these over the course of a day.’
Many calls can be put on hold while the scammers speak to those who pressed a key the fastest.
‘They first use Visa or Mastercard. they know everyone will be with one of the two, so that’s their way in,’ says Nick.
Margaretha Smith, whose surname has been changed to protect her privacy, was called by Charlie’s scam call centre in November.
Targeted: Margaretha Smith (inset) was saved from handing over cash to fraudsters on the BBC show Scam Interceptors
Neither Margaretha nor Charlie were aware that the Scam Interceptors team were listening in.
Soon, they would have enough information about Margaretha to send people on the ground to her home to warn of the danger. But, with the attempted scam under way, they were still 40 minutes away.
Money Mail listened to the recording.
A female scammer claims to be from Visa’s security department and is looking into unusual transactions on Margaretha’s bank account.
The widow, 88, who lives alone in Merseyside, is told there was suspicious activity on her Lloyds bank account and given details of several transactions she never made.
Margaretha — a retired grandmother-of-four and former bakery shop worker — is asked for her balance before the ‘transactions’.
Nick says: ‘This is what your bank would really do if they were going through certain checks. The scammer will proceed with the call so long as the victim has at least £1,000 in their bank account, which Margaretha did.’
The scammer asks: ‘Do you have your card? Could you please describe your card, ma’am, there is a sort code over there because in order to cancel the transaction we need your sort code, right?’
Margaretha supplies the number, which tells the scammers the branch she is with. The location of her bank branch is crucial to how OTS’s scam works, as the fraudsters can then try to convince her that staff there are interfering with her account.
Nick says: ‘Based on what we know about this bank security scam, they will tee up the idea that Margaretha will need to go to her bank’s branch and withdraw money.’
The scammers tell her that taking out the cash will keep it safe from the criminals operating at her branch. If she then posts it to an address they give her, Lloyds will put it into a safe, new account.
However, the address is controlled by the fraud factory so any money sent there would go straight into the hands of scammers.
M argaretha is told that the call will be transferred from Visa to Lloyds’ investigation department. Then Charlie’s voice comes onto the line.
‘Thank you for holding. Your call has been connected to the investigation department of Lloyds Bank and you are talking to Charlie Martin, how are you doing today, dear?
‘I believe I am talking to Mrs M. Smith, is that correct? The red tag which I can see right now, it clearly indicates that your account... has been used for criminal activities.’
Margaretha is asked for her consent for an investigation.
As much as £78.9m was stolen through impersonation scams last year, with 10,594 reported cases where victims lost money, according to banking trade body UK Finance
When Margaretha questions Charlie’s legitimacy, he reassures her with facts about Lloyds he has gleaned online: ‘I totally understand. You have to be very careful because nowadays we are facing so many problems. You can write down our address, ok, the Investigation Department of Lloyds Bank and we are based in 33 Old Broad Street, London.’
This is enough to quell her concern, and Margaretha is put on hold while Charlie claims he is speaking to a National Crime Agency official. He then tells her 17 other cases have already been logged at her branch from the past two weeks and she must act fast. He says: ‘Because we don’t want to involve your local branch right now, if they come to know, it will be a problem.
‘Understand that? We are going to transfer the money by the help of Post Office in a form of cash. We will put cash in the new account. For that you have to go to the branch right now. You will ask for cash, £2,100.’
The Scam Interceptors team on the ground arrive at Margaretha’s home moments before she leaves for the bank.
They knock on the door and frantically ask her to end the call with the fraudster.
They tell her: ‘You are on the phone to a scammer, please hang up. I promise you, I can explain everything.’
Margaretha agrees and instead alerts her bank to the scam. Nick says: ‘This is psychological warfare — removing the fundamental trust that many people have in their bank. It’s a plague on the elderly in the UK, as they are the most likely to have landlines.’
After weeks of listening in to the Kolkata calls from the Scam Interceptors hub in Glasgow, the team hears Charlie give his phone number to a victim. Nick wastes no time and calls the criminal.
This time, “Charlie” answers as an “Alan Jones”. He says: ‘Hello and thank you for getting connected to the investigation department. My name is Alan Jones, how may I help you?’
The BBC man replies: ‘Hello Alan Jones, or is it Charlie Martin? My name is Nick Stapleton, I’m a journalist working for the BBC. I want to understand why it is you are scamming people in the UK and stealing their money. How do you live with yourself.’
Charlie, clearly shaken, replies: ‘Are you out of your mind or what?’ before claiming Nick must have the wrong number. He says: ‘You’ve got the wrong number. I am a waiter at a restaurant.’
Shortly afterwards, the BBC show’s remote access to the phone line is cut. It is unclear if the criminals have continued to operate.
However, Scam Interceptors has alerted the Indian authorities and handed over their information.
- Scam Interceptors is on BBC1 at 10.45am today and is available to stream on the BBC’s iPlayer.
