The bogus bank adviser scam

The costliest one, because it runs through a convincing human being.

This one starts with a text announcing a suspicious transaction on your account, and continues with a phone call: someone presents themselves as your bank's security team, knows your name, sometimes your recent transactions, and asks you to "validate" a cancellation. What they have you validate is in fact an outgoing transfer. It carries the highest average loss of any of these frauds, precisely because a human voice disarms the suspicion the text alone would have raised.

How this scam works

The SMS is only the opener: it plants the worry that makes the following call plausible. The caller can display your branch's real number, a technical manipulation well within fraudsters' reach. They then ask you to read out the confirmation code you received by SMS, or to approve a notification in your banking app. That code or approval cancels nothing: it authorises the fraudulent transaction.

How to recognise it

You are asked to read out a code received by SMS — no adviser ever needs that code.
You are pressed to act at once, and discouraged from calling your branch back.
You are asked to approve a notification in your app "in order to cancel" a transaction.
The number shown is your bank's, which proves nothing: caller ID can be spoofed.

What to do if you received this message

1
Hang up, without hesitating
Ending the call costs nothing if it was genuine. The speed of the exchange is the fraudster's main tool.
2
Call your bank back on its official number
Use the number on your card or in your app — never the one in the text, and never the callback entry in your call log.
3
Block the card if you passed on a code
Ask for an immediate block and dispute the transactions. Timing is decisive.
4
Report the SMS to 33700
The opening message is part of a campaign: reporting it helps cut the number off at the source.

What you must never do

•Never give out a confirmation code received by SMS, to anyone, including someone claiming to be your bank.
•Never approve a notification in your banking app during an unsolicited call.
•Never make a "security" transfer to a supposedly protected account: that account belongs to the fraudster.

Frequently asked questions

Can my bank call me about a suspicious transaction?+

Yes, but it will never ask for a confirmation code or a password, nor ask you to approve a transaction during the call.

Will I be refunded if I approved the transaction?+

It depends on the circumstances and is decided by your bank, then by the banking ombudsman in case of dispute: contest it in writing straight away, because delay works against you.

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Mon SMS Gratuit is not affiliated with any of the organisations named on these pages; they appear only because fraudsters impersonate them. Our service is also reserved for personal, one-off sending: it sends no campaigns and no commercial messages, and cannot be the source of a fraudulent SMS sent in our name or anyone else's.