Customer in all probability disclosed code to scammer

Categories:

Fraud & scams, Cards,

Summary:

In May 2023, Charlie received a call from someone purporting to be from his bank’s fraud team who said they were trying to stop a suspicious/fraudulent transaction. The bank sent Charlie two text messages containing codes to allow transactions for $5,139 each on his credit card. He said he did not disclose the codes to the caller, who turned out to be a scammer. However, one of the transactions was successfully completed. The bank made a goodwill offer of $2,570, but Charlie declined it, saying he did not disclose the codes and the bank should reimburse his loss in full.

Published:

January 2026

Our investigation

We looked into the possible ways the scammers could have accessed the code and asked Charlie to provide his call logs and for the bank to provide credit card transaction logs. The logs showed that about 10 minutes into the call, the scammer used the code, and the payment was processed.

We considered that, on the balance of probabilities, Charlie disclosed the code to the scammer.