These gangs act almost always in the same way, they have data such as names, full surnames, home or work addresses and also your ID number. Even former co-director of the Banco de la República was a victim.
Colombia News.
They almost always have the voices of young people, they are safe, with a slow, calm, appropriate language, workers of entities or banks and even with a certain foreign accent.
This is how the bands tend to be that, according to the investigations, usually make calls to carry out thefts and changes of their credit cards.
They, according to what was detailed by the authorities and revealed through a journalistic work by El Tiempo, “have all their information: full names and surnames, work address and residence, and even their ID number.”
They have various modes
These structures usually pass themselves off as entities such as the Directorate of National Taxes and Customs, DIAN.
Ensuring that they are doing procedures for the “VAT refund”.
They say that they are also advisors to banking entities and that they are carrying out operations such as “the renewal of their debit or credit cards, or of companies allied to the different card systems” and that they seek to give certain benefits for being a good user.
However, everything is usually a fraud or the door for a great robbery and scam.
$2.8 million was stolen over the phone
The newspaper revealed an audio in which the criminals stole around $2.8 million from one of the victims from her savings account through a phone call.
The person who called him had all his data, “it was in a matter of seconds” he said.
Commenting that they knew the last 4 digits of his bank account and that gave him confidence; the woman who stole it “identified herself as a Davivienda official,” the victim told El Tiempo.
More cases:
Cambiazo, another form of theft in ATMs that was reported in the Valley
They indicate that “the hook” that the criminals used was a “supposed VAT refund for their purchases with Daviplata”, which is why they asked for the code that they had sent by text message to their cell phone.
They detailed that it was there where this gang began to extract the money from the victim.
“Three withdrawals, each of 720,000 pesos”, when the person found out, they told him that “while the VAT payment information was being updated, it would appear as a withdrawal, but then the money deposited would be reflected in his new balance, which which, of course, never happened”, had already been stolen.
The former co-director of the Banco de la República was also robbed
El Tiempo published that Carolina Soto, former co-director of Banco de la República, was one of the victims of these criminals.
The former official denounced that they posed as employees of the bank to which she was affiliated who, “instructed her that they would update her credit card.”
So they would go to his home to deliver the ‘new’ plastic.
They made a great change
“Everything seemed very strange to me, but when the woman arrived I received a call supposedly from the bank to confirm if the official had arrived to renew the card. I told them yes and we continued with the process, “she told the outlet.
Then they handed him the new card and tore up the other one.
“Which seemed strange to me, but I think they do it to keep the chip of the card that one gives, which is where all the information is,” he said.
El Tiempo published that “the result was fraudulent purchases at Homecenter for 11.7 million pesos, of which he only found out 15 days later, since it coincided with a trip to Mexico, where he could not use his cards, which did not surprise him. because he never notified the bank that he would leave the country».
Soto assured that when he returned from the trip he received a call from his bank to verify if he had indeed made said purchases.
- “Which he denied and immediately asked that they block the plastic (…). But the adviser told him that he was not registered and that a card update was never initiated. The case is already in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office.
However, these are not the only modalities, the newspaper obtained audios where the criminals, through a call, show the ‘cunning’ they have to commit this type of theft.
Recommendations:
- Remember not to download files or programs from unknown sources on your cell phone, tablet or computer, as they can put your personal and financial information at risk.
- Always be wary of calls asking for confidential or financial information.
- When making transactions at ATMs, dataphones and banking correspondents, never accept help from third parties because you may be a victim of fraud or exchange. Remember that you are the primary guardian of your information.
- Never reveal your data in links that you receive by mail or when answering a call in which they say they are from your financial institution. Protect your information, because the unscrupulous will look for any argument to obtain your data.
With information from TIME.
