Fraudsters scam local business out of £1m

A fraudster pretending to be a bank employee scammed a local business out of £1m on Monday, an RGP spokesman has confirmed, following a slew of reported frauds.

The spokesman confirmed that six businesses have been asked to hand over their username and passwords in the past week, and two have suffered a loss of money.

In the case of the £1m fraud, the spokesman said a employee received a call from a UK number on Friday claiming to be from a local bank’s international fraud department.

The scammer told the employee that there were fraudulent transactions that needed to be stopped.

“The caller requested to use a Team Viewer type programme to halt the transactions,” the spokesman said.

But on Monday the business was contacted by their local bank stating that there had been numerous unauthorised transactions in excess of one million pounds.

“The business then realised their account had been hacked,” the RGP said.

The incident comes after separate incidents of fraud were reported to the police.

There have been two further frauds reported today with one reporting losses of £45,000 and the other reporting over 70 fraudulent transactions.

This marks the fourth report in a matter of days.

Last week a local company reported that someone pretending to be from Gibraltar International Bank’s fraud team had phoned a staff member.

The spokesman said the fraudster had attempted to mislead them by alleging that some unusual transactions had taken place and that they needed remote access to their systems.

“The staff member initially agreed, but then became suspicious and contacted Gibraltar International Bank, who confirmed the caller was not from their bank,” the RGP said.

“No money was lost during the incident.”

On Monday the RGP received another report of fraud targeting another local business.

“A Bureau De Change stated that a woman had requested to exchange £9,200 into euros,” the spokesman said.

The report detailed who the woman told the Bureau that she had transferred the funds and showed staff the transaction on her banking app.

“The woman was then given €10,580 in cash.”

“By the close of business, the Bureau De Change had not received their money. An investigation is ongoing.”

The spokesman said the RGP has seen reports on a number of phishing telephone scams were received by clients of local banks.

“The fraudsters were calling local clients, with either a withheld number, or with a local Gibraltar number that matched their bank’s telephone number," the spokesman said.

"They were pretending to be someone from the bank or Police.

“The fraudsters try to trick you into you providing your banking or personal details, or to get you to click on a link to a fraudulent site."

“Neither your bank or the police will ask you for your personal banking information, your username or password. They will never request you to give them access to your
online banking app or ask you to click on any links on-line. Furthermore, they will never ask you to transfer money to another account."

“Scammers are always developing new ways to obtain your personal data, so please don’t fall foul of their scams. If you believe you are a victim of fraud, hang up the phone, call your bank and report it to the RGP.”

In the most recent scams, it has been reported that a “Michael Young” calls them to discuss a payment they have entered via their banking app.

"He advises them that he is calling from their local bank – and the number displayed is the same as their local bank," the spokesman said.

"The individual making the calls also provides a 'taff number'. The fraudster has also contacted Gibraltar businesses to advise them to log into their computer via TeamViewer so he can help them with the transaction."

RGP Economic Crime Detectives are now working with the Gibraltar Financial Intelligence Unit and local banks in an attempt to recover funds.

To report fraud to the RGP, call our Control Room on 200 72500 or report online at www.police.gi/report-online

THIS POST WAS UPDATED AT 1.05PM.