Connexion reader says phone call from bank seemed more like a scam
To the Editor,
In May, I received an unexpected call on my French mobile purporting to be from the local branch of my bank (Crédit Agricole Languedoc), asking me for my husband’s profession, which I supplied.
When the caller said she had a list of questions about him for me, I became suspicious and replied that I had no way of knowing whether she was really calling me from CA and we would visit the bank tomorrow and give them the answers.
I expected her to back off at this point but, surprisingly, she did not.
The following afternoon we turned up at the local bank branch. To my amazement, the phone call turned out to have been genuine.
When I explained why I had refused to give the information over the phone, the bank employee gave me a look of withering contempt and said that we should have known the call was genuine as it would have been presented as ‘Crédit Agricole Languedoc’ on my phone and that it was a legal requirement for the bank to update its customers’ details by phone from time to time.
Read more: Fraudsters target bank cards in your pocket in new scam in France
I pointed out that phone numbers can be faked on incoming calls, but was treated to a Gallic shrug.
Presumably, if a customer is taken in by ‘Crédit Agricole Languedoc’ showing up as the caller and it turns out not to be the case, the bank will automatically refund any money stolen from my account? Maybe not.
I have done a bit of research since then, which confirms that caller identities most certainly CAN be falsified in France.
It seems to me that the UK is years ahead of France in banking security. If the bank’s own employees will not play ball, we have to redouble our efforts to stay safe.
Catherine Dekker, by email
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