Targeted for a scam? It’s not always the consumer’s fault

While overseas on business and knee deep into reviewing documents for an audit, I received a message from a work colleague.  She was asking me if I had a new number or an alternate number on Viber.  I do own two mobile numbers but only one is registered with Viber so my answer was short and quick – No.

She then sent me screenshots that nearly gave me a heart attack.  A fraudster was impersonating me and made a Viber account using a number not known to me or my contacts, and it even came with my photo.  As my own Viber account does not show my photo, this new and unauthorized one stood out next to my active one.

The scammer was reaching out to people who know me through work, but are not within my personal circle.  This is how the script went:

Hi (insert name of target)

How are you doing today

I need you to run a task on my behalf

I will share associate account now, I want you to make transfer as I’m currently limited

You will get reimbursed later today when I’m on my free time

Can you do that now so I can share details

I am limited to transfer now and I need you to complete the transfer on my behalf

I will reimburse

I will send the account now.  Kindly initiate a 20k transfer

Let me know once you’re ready to do it so I can proceed with details

Fortunately, these colleagues shared the messages to a work liaison who flagged me and we quickly determined this was a scam.  They reported the account in the Viber platform as scam and disengaged.  

This was frightening enough, but what came after was worse.  I had to subject myself to scrutiny to find out how this could happen, and somehow all the conversations were pointed at what I could have done better to prevent this.  

It’s the same thing when we find an unauthorized charge in our credit card.  Or when there was an unauthorized withdrawal from our bank account.  The default seems to be what did you do wrong, and here’s what you need to do so this does not happen again.

In my years working for a bank and a credit card issuer, I confess that most of the time, fraud happens because of customer negligence.  But not 100% of the time.  And if you are part of the minority who have been so careful with your personal information, this finger pointing is not helpful, and even insulting.

Should this happen to you, here are some actions you can take quickly:

#1 Report to Viber, or whichever social platform the fraudster is using

 With the rising incidence of fraud, all social platforms have made it easy to report scam accounts from their apps.

#2 Review your privacy settings

In Viber, Collect Analytics is On by default, so consider turning it off. You may also want to turn On Trusted Contacts, and turn Off Allow Friend Suggestions plus do not allow adding to groups from everyone, only to your contact list. Repeat this exercise across other networking or social media apps.

#3 Check your shared information  

Most people prefer to see who is online so they also share their online status.  You can choose to turn this off.  In Viber, many share their birthday information which alerts their contacts.  Again, you have the option to mute this.  Be careful also when sharing your location via chat.

#4 Reach out to your trusted circle 

Time to alert them of the fraud attempt, and remind them to check in with you for any suspicious messages.  In my case, I assured them that I will not approach them for any money requests via text alone.  If I needed help, I would pick up the phone because that’s a conversation that needs to be said, not texted.

#5 Monitor the scam  

Keep an eye and ear out in the coming days.  Thankfully the number was deactivated in Viber, and no one else has come to me to say they paid P20,000.  Check your other social media accounts too, just to be safe.  And change all your passwords to help keep fraudsters away.