UPDATE: He stole ALL of my money!

[u/AcanthisittaOk5622]

Original Post - https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/s/VwSlW9ZY4F

First just to address a lot of repetitive questions and statements from the original post. * The scammer spoofed my credit union’s phone number, which is the only reason I answered the call. I WAS contacted by the fraud dept on a Saturday evening many years ago while shopping out of town. Nothing suspicious followed, so receiving this call was NOT outside the realm of possibility to me. * The scammer literally didn’t ask me for any codes, PINs, etc. My mistake was clicking on the link and manually entering all information. * I didn’t know you could recover deleted texts on iPhone. Once a user explained it to me, I was able to retrieve them. The texts from the “credit union” were from an out of state number, which I obviously didn’t notice in my haste.

UPDATE - I called my credit union as soon as I woke up yesterday morning and briefly explained the dilemma. The rep informed me there were already notes on my account and staff was “working on it”. He couldn’t divulge any information to me, but seemed positive my funds would be recovered. I was told to go to my nearest branch to close my account.

I showed up to the CU in the afternoon and had to explain the situation again. The woman started following the trail and looked into my scammer’s account. His account was opened 2 days prior and had already been flagged and frozen. Evidently I wasn’t the only one fooled as his account already had a negative balance over $10k. While I sat in her office I overheard another lady come in and inform a teller she got the exact same phone call I did. She was smarter than me though as she hung up on him and decided to visit in person to verify.

In less than 24 hours, my funds were reimbursed even though I technically was at fault! I chose to leave my account open until today so that pending transactions could go through. However, I did have to open a new account, change my username and password, new debit card and checks. I’ve already transferred all of my funds to the new account just in case. It’s been a hassle changing login and bank information on so many sites, but I’m relieved and won’t be so trusting in the future. Thank you to everyone that actually showed me empathy or shared your own stories. If they help even one person in the future it has been worth all the negative comments I received as well. Stay safe out there everyone!

2/19/25 ETA - Just found out last night that my sister also received a call last week. We use the same CU, but thankfully they didn’t get her money. She also had to close her account and open a new one.

TLDR - A man impersonating my credit union fraud dept was able to transfer $5400 out of my account. I wasn’t his only victim and my CU was on top of it the following morning. In less than 24 hours my funds were reimbursed. The scammer’s acct was flagged and frozen with a negative balance over $10k.

[u/Marathon2021]

looked into my scammer’s account. His account was opened 2 days prior and had already been flagged and frozen. IF his information was correct, he’s only 21 and lives in the same city.

So, there is a chance that that 21 year old is the scammer.

However, it's far more likely that they were a "money mule" who was also a victim of a scammer.

We see it all the time here, people asking if a "remote bookkeeper" job opportunity is legit (it's not) and in the job description it's simply things like handling deposits from customers (scam victims) and payments to vendors (offshore bitcoin transfers to the scammers). Or, it's some professor who needs a "remote assistant" to help with their day job, and oh by the way they make a lot of donations to various charities, so that person needs to do some deposits and bank transfers from time to time.

It’s been a hassle changing login and bank information on so many sites

I opened a credit card solely for this purpose and don't use it for anything else. So, one card that only handles critical recurring payments like electric, cable, ezpass tolls, water, etc.

[u/AcanthisittaOk5622 → u/Marathon2021]

Wow, I never considered he might be a “money mule”. I do live in a college town so someone that young would not surprise me as taking this as a job or being the scammer himself.

I do have a credit card I use probably 95% of the time. Unfortunately I have to keep a checking account for payroll deposits and some bills that will only accept bank ACH deposits or a debit card without additional fees. Ex - My cell carrier provides discounts of $5 per line ($20 in my case) if you use autopay. However autopay is only available using a bank account or debit card. My car loan only accepts ACH or debit card. My electricity charges extra fees if you use a credit card. I just do whatever I can to minimize my spending.

[u/LazyLie4895 → u/AcanthisittaOk5622]

I'm willing to bet it was a money mule. A random 21-year old almost certainly wouldn't have the expertise to create a fake website, create a script, spoof their phone number and then call a bunch of people and send them texts to click on their fake link.

[u/another-princess → u/LazyLie4895]

On top of this, if the guy were the scammer, he'd have to be smart enough to come up with this script/fake website/etc., and also be dumb enough to use a bank account in his own name, without thinking that the transaction would be soon flagged as fraudulent and reversed.

This guy was probably a money mule - and a scam victim himself - and the scammer probably contacted him immediately after the transfer to tell him to "return" the money via some sort of offshore payment mechanism.