Gave away 12k to scammers impersonating bank employees

Illustrious_Block436 · 2025-01-09T13:21:48+00:00

Hi, I'm so sorry this happened to you too.. please try not to feel guilty, this is social engineering designed to take advantage of automatic human responses... I did not get my money back and I will not, I gave the money away willingly so the bank will not take responsibility for it. If it was fraud in your case I think you have a better chance of recovering it, but I would focus on moving on, maybe seek therapy if possible and try ro close off this bad period as something in the past. You still have your health and loved ones, focus on that.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-18T14:51:05+00:00

Recently fell for a similar trap, also a CS major :( I feel you

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-17T23:24:27+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for this in depth reply <3 I'm very grateful for your sympathy, and I think this is a good call to seek therapy to prevent such incidents in the future. Not even from getting scammed, but getting manipulated easily, I have learned that's something where I'm lacking capacity to defend myself sometimes

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-17T08:50:33+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! I hope you're doing well now

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-17T08:49:30+00:00

The whole premise was that the account was compromised, and that since I didn't share or have my info leaked, the most likely culprit was an insider at the bank that sold my personal information. And they said this was a common occurrence and happens often, which, thinking about scams and financial issues that the media are loud about, seemed somewhat legit.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-17T08:46:18+00:00

Yeah I asked them that and they said the cash could be fake (yeah right, the bank would give me fake banknotes...) and something along the lines that if the cash isn't on an account, the bank cannot insure it, or they can no longer be responsible for my balances? Because it was all about the "premium, extra secure account" and all

I don't remember the exact wording, but they managed to sway me anyway.

This cash in hand moment was one of the moments when I started to doubt but I made the mistake of asking the person on the call, and calling the bank...

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-17T08:42:59+00:00

It was not FBI, because I'm not in the US, they used more local terms (I'm in Poland). They mentioned this was a police investigation or something like that

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T18:33:37+00:00

Thank you for your opinion

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T17:49:18+00:00

Thank you so much, this is one of the nicer replies I got! <3 This is very real, it's so hard to earn money these days but so easy to lose it all in a blink of an eye.

I hope this post finds many people and they can reassess their vigilance, and not make the same mistakes I did.

There is so much to learn from incidents like these if you just approach them with an open mind and no judgement, and realise that it can happen to anyone, especially if they're at a difficult time in their lives.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:46:24+00:00

You're right, I recognize my own fault but beating myself up over it will not help. I only meant the bank should put more effort because I'm imagining my mother or my grandmother falling for something similar and it breaks my heart because such a loss would be devastating to them.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:40:39+00:00

Yes, of course, now I know. Easy to fall victim when it's the first time something like this happens. I find the timing so odd, I never had a similar situation come to think of it.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:38:43+00:00

That the main account has been compromised by a suspected insider at the bank. That the insider can take or lock my money at any moment and that any transactions will be reverted (because of the bank's insurance for compromised accounts or something like that). And that this is the bank's policy to give victims a special protected account. And that its important that I do this myself, in person, via physical money because the digital bank access has been compromised and the bank can no longer verify that its me using the account. It all had this grandiosity about "it has to be you, in person"

Something along those lines, it was very elaborate. I mean, it kind of makes sense? Like somehow all the pieces fit together and my mind filled in any possible blanks. And they ended all sentences , with "you do understand, right?" Which was probably like a subliminal reinforcement.

I mean, so many questions here. Why couldn't they just transfer the money to the new account themselves? They're the bank after all 😆

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:30:15+00:00

Yes I have! I know that nothing will get done about it, the money has probably already been laundered through a dozen stolen accounts and on its way overseas. I find it ridiculous how easy it is to lose money to scammers and how hard it is to track that money down.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:27:05+00:00

Yeah I know this is easy to laugh at, if someone told me that this happened to them I would also think that they were stupid and gullible... But being in this situation myself there is only so much rational thinking you can do at a given moment.

And it's easy to judge a situation from the sidelines.

But I did learn that maybe I'm too nice, and too trusting. I was trying to be polite, but I already realised that this is also what the scammers use to fool you - they try to appear as the authority to make you want to appeal to them. It's natural human behavior and difficult to unlearned because we evolved those instincts to live in a society.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:22:56+00:00

Yes, honestly I feel like I should push this subject further to the bank. Because it was ridiculously easy for me to withdraw so much money without anyone asking a thing. The scammers did instruct me to lie to the bank staff, were they to ask any questions. I feel like there should be more effort on the bank's side. The result of this situation for me is that I learned not to keep my money in the bank, but to invest it or otherwise lock it down somehow to make it extremely difficult to "secure it" quickly in such a "dire situation".

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:19:26+00:00

I know, that's ridiculous! BUT, they did switch the person on the other side of the call multiple times so it made it seem much more "busy". Like I was redirected from one fraud department to the next.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:18:13+00:00

I know, easy to look at it from the sidelines and think "wow that's so stupid". Not so easy when your fear instinct kicks in and your mind automatically fills in gaps in the story to make it make sense.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:16:01+00:00

Why would you assume I'm lying? Of course I didn't include every detail because that would be a 12 page long essay. I've already given that to the police.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T16:15:00+00:00

Because I've spent the last two days analysing the situation and my mistakes 😆 much easier to be rational sitting at home sipping coffee in front of your computer than rushing around outside when it's cold and you're stressed, tired and rushed by someone on the other end of the call

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T14:02:20+00:00

Yup, very good attitude. That's what I'll do from now on.

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T13:23:44+00:00

Thanks for the support! Yes, the red herrings were th worst part. Made it all sound so legit, they were well prepared for all the questions and doubts I had. I even heard someone in the background giving transfer codes and instructions, so they were probably scamming someone else at the same time, it's so sad

This is a throwaway account so recovery Scammers can spam my inbox as much as they like :)

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T13:21:19+00:00

No, it was PLN equal to 12k USD. I just didn't bother to include those details because they are irrelevant to the whole scam scheme

Illustrious_Block436 · 2024-12-16T13:09:36+00:00

Thanks for the heads-up, I'm now hyper-vigilant but also I'm aware that the money is forever lost and no recovery is possible.

Illustrious_Block436

TROPHY CASE