A very ingenious and organized scam attempt, which failed only because of the intuition of the branch manager of agency 1 of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in via Riva Villasanta. This is what happened yesterday in Pirri: a university professor risked having his account completely emptied, after being contacted by self-styled carabinieri and bank operators (in reality the same scammers) who warned him of a scam in progress against him.

The mechanism is as follows: the teacher received a message on his phone from a number claiming to be from the bank and warning him of charges made to his current account (which obviously never happened) , adding that if the customer had any doubts about these operations he should get in touch. His call was answered by one of the scammers, who pretended to be from the anti-fraud office of Monte dei Paschi and told him that the account had been compromised and that the police were investigating. A few seconds after hanging up the phone he received a second one, from a number in Cagliari which - from checks carried out by the teacher himself - belonged to a Carabinieri station in the capital ( but in reality it was only pretending to use that number ).

The alleged marshal, with a fictitious name, "confirmed" the thesis and doubts presented by the phantom anti-fraud office and, since the account was allegedly compromised, the only way to avoid the risk was to move the money elsewhere to a "Single Justice Fund" (non-existent). That is, the real scam, which consists in convincing the victim to make an instant transfer, effectively appearing to be the one who moved the money to the criminals' account .

The teacher, shocked by what he had learned, immediately showed up at the branch in via Riva Villasanta and - convinced that the scam had already been carried out rather than underway - asked to make an instant transfer, for around 15,000 euros. The director of the agency, suspicious, had him sit in his office and asked for more information . And, once he had listened to the story, he immediately understood that a scam was underway and warned the customer who was unknowingly becoming the "armed wing" of the scammers. The money was not lost by a hair's breadth, but the ruse used is rather complex and last year he had seen another customer fall for it and lose 80,000 euros. Moreover, it is not the only case that has occurred in Cagliari .

To ensure the safety of its customers, the bank reminds that no institution asks its customers to make bank transfers, nor the police : these are senseless and illegal procedures, which should arouse suspicion in those who receive these requests.

(Unioneonline/r.sp.)

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