If they call
Five rules for handling unexpected phone calls that ask for money, codes, or urgency. Print this. Stick it where you will see it.
- 01
Hang up. Call back.
Anyone claiming to be your bank, the police, your tax office, a courier or a utility: end the call. Then call the number on the back of your card or on a recent letter. Use a different phone if you can. Real organisations never mind.
- 02
Real banks never ask you to move money.
Not to a 'safe account', not to your own account, not anywhere. Anyone asking is a scammer. Full stop.
- 03
Never read out a code.
If you receive a one-time code by text or in your banking app, it is for you alone. No real employee will ever ask you to share it. Sharing it is what authorises the scammer's transfer.
- 04
If they create urgency, they are lying.
Police, banks and government bodies do not pressure you to act in the next ten minutes. They write letters. They give time. Pressure is the scam.
- 05
Call someone before you act.
Before sending money, sharing a code, or following any instruction from a phone call, call one person in your family first. Agree in advance who that person is. No real emergency loses anything by waiting five minutes.
What to say to the caller
Pick one. You do not need to be polite. They are not.
- I do not give information over the phone.
- I will call you back on the number I have for you.
- Please send me a letter.
If you have already given them anything
Act in this order. Speed matters more than getting it right.
- Your bank, on the number on the back of your card. Do this first if money has moved.
- Forward suspicious texts to 7726. It is free in most European countries.
- Your country's cybercrime authority or police. They can give you a report number you may need for insurance or to dispute charges.
Being scammed is not your fault. The people doing this do it for a living to thousands of others. Tell your family what happened so the next person is ready.
thingsworthknowing.eu/digital/phone-scams-rules