This is a story I heard from a friend of mine who works as a customer service representative for a bank. He told me that one day, he received a call from a man who claimed to be a manager of another bank. The man said that he was calling to verify some transactions that had been made on a customer's account, and that he needed the customer's name, account number, and PIN code. My friend was suspicious, because he knew that banks never ask for such information over the phone. He decided to play along and see what the man was up to.
He gave the man a fake name, account number, and PIN code, and pretended to be very cooperative. The man thanked him and said that he would call back in a few minutes to confirm the transactions. My friend waited for the call, and sure enough, the man called again. This time, he said that there was a problem with the customer's account, and that he needed to transfer some money to another account to fix it. He asked my friend to log into his online banking and follow his instructions.
My friend agreed, but instead of logging into his own account, he logged into a dummy account that he had created for testing purposes. He followed the man's instructions, which involved transferring some money to an account that the man provided. The man said that this was a temporary measure, and that the money would be returned to the customer's account as soon as the problem was solved. He asked my friend to confirm the transfer by reading out the confirmation code that appeared on the screen.
My friend read out a random code that he made up on the spot. The man said that everything was fine, and that he would call back in a few minutes to finalize the process. He also warned my friend not to tell anyone about this, as it was a confidential matter. My friend agreed, and hung up.
He never heard from the man again.
My friend later found out that the man was a scammer who had been trying to trick him into giving away his personal and financial information. He had also tried to make him transfer money to his own account, hoping that he wouldn't notice until it was too late. My friend had turned the tables on him, and scammed the scammer.
He told me this story with a laugh, and said that it was one of the most satisfying moments of his job. He also said that he hoped that the scammer learned his lesson, and that he would think twice before trying to fool someone else.
