Five banking scams to watch out for

Banking online can be fraught with danger, with criminals creating apps and impersonating banks to steal people’s money.

One of the most notable was a fake app called 2FA Authenticator on Google Play. This app appeared to be entirely legitimate but in the background it disabled system security checks on victims’ devices and secretly installed malware that stole login details. Another dangerous scam saw fraudsters spoof their caller ID to match banks and steal money via calls and texts.

Here are five banking scams to watch out for and how to avoid them.

Protect yourself from banking scams

Beware of ‘free’ supermarket vouchers

Have you seen misleading ‘free’ supermarket voucher posts on social media? These posts claim to offer free grocery vouchers, but they actually require you to sign up to play a series of games and subscriptions. This not only takes up your time, it can also cost you money and involve you handing over your personal information.

Here are the social media “free vouchers” ads to watch out for and how to identify them.
Spotting fake vouchers

Geek Squad scam

The Geek Squad scam continues with fraudsters impersonating the tech support company’s customer service advisors. Scammers send dodgy emails containing a fake customer service number for Geek Squad. When you call, you’re persuaded to give the scammer access to your computer, allowing them to steal your personal information and money.

It can be difficult to distinguish between real and fake organisations. Here is how to identify a fake email and how to report them.

Identifyting a fake email

There’s now a much easier way to make us aware of scams directly with our scam sharer tool. Tell us your experiences of phishing emails, fake texts, cold calls and other types of fraud.

Stay safe,

Which? Scam Alert team