Online banking is easy these days. Many people can check their accounts right from their phones. Imagine logging in and finding your entire savings missing.
Jackie Berman, a New York resident, claims that a hacker stole her Citibank savings card with more than $26,000 in it.
“It’s been really horrible — the entire experience,”Berman stated.
Heidi Diamond, TV executive says she experienced the same thing. The scammers stole over $200,000.
“I freaked, and I went running to the nearest bank,”Diamond stated.
The women’s ordeals are two instances of a new scam known as SIM swapping.
This happens when hackers steal your personal data online. Next, they contact your mobile carrier to trick them into activating your SIM card. Once this happens, scammers can take control of your phone and passwords.
The scammer pretends to be you and contacts your bank to transfer all the money from your account.
After Inside Edition contacted Citibank, things quickly changed — at least for Heidi Diamond.
“I do believe it’s thanks to Inside Edition I got my money back,”Diamond stated.
They cut her a check for the full amount she lost — all $200,025.
Jackie Berman, however, hasn’t had as much luck. She claims that she still has all the money she lost four months after reporting the fraud.
“Citibank has now denied me not once, not twice, not three times, but five times. And every single time my heart stops, because I’m thinking, ‘How can they just think I’m just going to allow a criminal to have my $26,000?’”Berman stated.
Though both women say their money was taken by a SIM scam, Citibank did not tell Inside Edition why Diamond’s money was returned while Berman’s was not. Although the bank claims that it sympathizes with fraud victims and has done everything it could to recover Berman’s funds, each case is unique.
Inside Edition has Citi’s complete statement:
“Modern financial scams targeting Americas of all ages and backgrounds are sophisticated operations and we have a great deal of sympathy for those who fall victim to fraud. We have seen a growing number of scams, ranging from phishing texts, to robocalls and internet and email fraud, and we are deeply committed to doing our part to protect our customers from financial fraud. If a customer receives a suspicious unsolicited message, we urge them to not provide personal or account information and to immediately contact us directly via our Citibank app, website (citi.com), or by calling the customer service number listed on our website. We did everything possible to seek the recovery of funds that were taken from Ms. Berman by fraudsters using her personal and account information.”
Citibank also offers some tips to help you keep your accounts safe.
- <em>If you receive a one-time passcode you didn’t request, don’t give the code to anyone who contacts you for it.</em>
- <em>Use known links to access businesses online.</em>
- <em>Verify any phone, text or email contacts are legitimate before sharing information such as your account number, security word, PIN, User ID or password.</em>
- <em>Be leery of requests to download apps to fix issues or that allow access to your device.</em>
- <em>For more information about how you can protect yourself against fraud, and how Citi makes your security a priority, visit: <a href=”https://www.citi.com/fraudprevention” rel=”” target=”_blank”>www.citi.com/fraudprevention.com</a></em>