Vilnius resident disappointed by scammers, but feels cheated by bank: immediately blocked money, but will not get it back

Scammers deducted all money from the card

The Vilnius woman wanted to buy a rare technical device, which is not available in stores. For 300 Eur ads on the portal Skelbiu.lt found a new device for sale. In the guise of the seller, the scammer offered to send an invoice to DPD couriers, whom the woman had to pay, the money supposedly going to reach the seller only when the shipment arrives before the buyer and she confirms that the merchandise is suitable. Correspondence with the scammers was done through the Viber app. The scammer sent Rūta a fake DPD website that looked identical to the real one.

“He sent a link to the normal DPD website, where the invoice was issued with all the data, all I had to do was enter the card details: first name, last name, card number and CVV code. When I pressed” pay “A table appeared indicating that an error had occurred. I tried to re-enter the data several times, but it turned out to be the same,” he says.

When the email is opened in the bank, the woman saw a completely different and larger amount of money scanned and another account registered in Moscow. True, the currency was also different – scanning tens of thousands of rubles, that is, a few hundred euros. Fortunately, there was no more money on the card, because the scammers would have emptied the entire account.

“If I had scanned the actual amount, which the scammers pointed out, I would have realized only a month after they had cheated me. But when I saw a completely different amount being deducted in rubles, still to Moscow, I immediately realized my error ”, he assures.

He immediately realized the deception

Ruth immediately realized that she had fallen into the hands of scammers and immediately after a few minutes called the SEB bank, which assured that the money was blocked and not transferred to the scammers, so that she could rest easy. An employee of the bank also said that he saw that there was an attempt to take the money at that time and was sure it was a scam attack, and also ordered him not to contact them in any way.

“They have assured me that the amount is frozen and it certainly will not go to the scammers and I will get them back. The employee was glad that he reacted immediately. The consultancy said that it saw that there was an attempt to “take” the money now, and was sure it was a scam attack. He was ordered not to communicate with them in any way. The scammer still wrote to me that an error had occurred, he told me to click another link where he was supposed to pay me back and that he could transfer the money again. I did not write anything, following the competent instructions of the bank employee ”, the woman recalls.

At the same time, he called the police: “I told the officials that I had not suffered any losses because the bank had protected me and would return my money.”

The police investigators, who arrived the next day, gave the woman all the data, explained the situation for several hours and completed a report.

The bank changed position the next day.

“The officer asked me how I was with the money, that the bank tell me exactly where they are. I called the bank, they assured me that everything was fine. Later they called me and informed me that according to the rules, since I entered my details and confirmed the transaction, I myself am guilty. Consequently, the consultant misled me. Perhaps you could still negotiate with the sellers to try to get the money back. I am more angry with the bank than with the scammers ”, Rūta is angry.

“The police smiled and shook their heads so that the bank had enough online two-button presses and the money was seized because they hadn’t reached the scammers yet.” The police will investigate, but they will have to work hard: the phone number is not Lithuanian, the bank account is abroad, all ends are broken, the fake page created no longer works, ”he added.

He was reportedly told by police officers that scammers disguised as DPDs had recently become more active. They reportedly attracted much larger sums from some residents: 10,000. EUR.

Also, after posting on Facebook, he says he received several more stories from SEB bank customers, all of whom said the same thing: that by reacting quickly and calling the bank, they were assured that the money was safe, but then not recovered.

“If an employee has made a mistake, but it is not the first time, he is making a mistake, the bank must take responsibility,” emphasizes Rūta.

SEB Bank: the responsibility lies with the customer

According to SEB bankas, if a customer enters their payment card data (card number, expiration date, CVV code) and confirms the payment by clicking on the link received from the scammer, entering their identification code and confirming the start of session through the login means (Smart-ID, generator password, mobile signature), and the bank sees this confirmation of the client in its systems, said payment is considered duly authorized, that is, made by the client himself, therefore that the responsibility for said payment rests with the customer.

“According to MasterCard and Visa rules, we cannot treat a payment as made by a customer other than the customer and return the funds immediately. In such case, if the customer contacts the bank claiming that the payment is made the fraudster, the bank will do its best to help the client recover the funds, in accordance with MasterCard and Visa rules. Unfortunately, it is often difficult or impossible to recover funds. In such cases, we offer clients to apply to the police authorities, ”says Ieva Dauguvietytė-Daskevičienė, media representative of SEB Bank.

The bank representative points out that if he realizes that he has made an order to the scammers and has revealed his personal data, the customer goes to the bank, which immediately takes all possible security measures: blocks the payment card, if it is necessary, and the Internet bank. Such blocking is said to prevent other possible fraudulent actions in the future, but it cannot stop the customer’s already approved payment, which occurs as soon as the customer enters their payment card details.

“In banking systems, a payment made with a card can be considered reserved for some time after the customer has been confirmed and the bank can try to cancel the reservation at the customer’s request, but such payment can still be debited from the customer’s account The bank’s consultants inform the clients about it and all their actions, which are performed when the client calls, are intended to protect the client’s funds from further scans, but they cannot change what already happened after the client confirms the payment ”, explains I. Dauguvietytė-Daskevičienė.

SEB Bank warns customers and urges them to be very careful: never enter their payment cards or Internet bank login details into suspicious links to websites that they receive from individuals and critically evaluate such requests.

Scammers have activated under the guise of DPD

Both SEB bankas and DPD Lietuva reported on the scammers activated on the Internet.

According to DPD, scammers are stealing bank card details from residents by mimicking a self-service package website. esiunta.lt and dpd.lt. The parcel company urges residents to be extremely careful and reminds them to always ensure that the DPD website opens at the end of “dpd.lt”. The company notes that if it ends in “dpdlt” (without a period), it is not a page owned by the company.

According to Gabrielius Bilevičius, DPD Lietuva’s director of marketing and sales in the Baltic countries, information was received last Sunday about a malicious internet link requesting payment card data. It claims that while the company name was mentioned in the link address, DPD Lietuva was not associated with this link in any way, and the suspicious link has already been disabled.

“We have received reports that online scammers have called people who sell their items on advertising portals and allegedly wanted to buy their products. These people provided a link asking them to share their payment card details. After notify the responsible authorities and discover that the link was malicious, it was blocked, ”says G. Bilevičius.

According to him, the official self-service references of DPD Lietuva shipments are www.esiunta.dpd.lt and www.esiunta.lt, and the company does not collect payments for goods sold by people on any of these pages.