Anita Harris is all too familiar with spotting scams. She educates consumers throughout Metro Atlanta and North Georgia on how to spot and avoid scams but unfortunately became a victim herself.

“I’m so angry – at the scammer and myself,” said Harris. “I have been working for the Better Business Bureau for 36+ years, teaching others how to avoid these types of scams. Usually, I am very good at not falling for them, but this scam was really persuasive because it was based partially in truth.”

Harris had $2,989.57 stolen from her after receiving a phone call that appeared to be from SunTrust Customer Service.

The man identified himself as a SunTrust employee and told Harris that her account had fraudulent activity and that she needed to verify her latest transactions.

“I logged on to my banking account and verified my last authorized transaction. He said what triggered the alert was a result of charges from my Amazon Prime account,” said Harris. “He asked the standard security questions (DOB, address, mother’s maiden name) and sent me a one-time password to my phone to verify that it was me.”

The scammer then told Harris that her current debit card would be stopped, a new one will be sent, and that she needed to choose a new PIN. During that same call, Harris was then told that her Cash App account had been compromised and needed to be escalated.

After a few minutes, the scammer called back from a restricted number.

“I questioned him about that since the first call came from a number I had saved as SunTrust,” said Harris.

The scammer explained that his first call was generated due to the alleged fraud trigger and that he is now calling from his computer over VPN since he now works remotely. He suggested that Harris change her Cash App pin and provided her an app that would run a virus scan on her phone and computer.

“After that, I knew it was a scam. I immediately told him that I had a meeting and requested for him to call me back,” said Harris.

Harris never heard back from him.

While they were on the phone, it appears that another scammer was contacting the real SunTrust and updating Harris’ email and physical address. They were able to make those changes because they provided the correct answers to her security questions. Once they updated the email address, they were able to change her login, access her account and transfer $2,000 from her MoneyMarket account along with 13 Zelle transfers.

“I am not proud nor happy that this happened to me, but if it helps someone else not get taken, then at least something good comes of it,” she said.

Harris fell prey to what is known as vishing scam. Where a scammer will use social engineering to get the victim to share personal information and financial details, such as account numbers and passwords.

One of the reasons that vishing can be very convincing is that typically scammers will use spoofed caller ID numbers that look legitimate. The FBI has issued warnings about vishing due to the huge shift to work from home due to the pandemic.

According to Statista, scam calls in the United States caused a total loss of about 19.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. According to an online survey conducted by The Harris Poll, the amount of money lost by Americans in 2020 increased by 9.2 billion U.S. dollars compared to 2019.

How to avoid being the next vishing victim

Since caller ID spoofing is so easy to do, do not take the number that appears on your phone at face value. Call your bank to ask about whatever situation was raised. Find your bank’s phone number online, on a statement, or the back of your debit/credit card to ensure you are calling the bank and not a scammer.

If your bank calls your home, never give your personal information to “verify” your identity. If it does not seem right, hang up and call the bank back at the number you know is right.

For More Information

For more about scams, go to BBB.org/ScamTips. Read more about phishing scams at BBB.org/PhishingScam.

If you’ve been the victim of a scam, help others avoid falling victim by reporting what happened on BBB Scam Tracker.

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