Terrifying high-tech bank scam drains your life savings in seconds — and ‘devastated’ victims are sounding the alarm
Noel Phillips can’t believe he was cleaned out so quickly — and easily.
Phillips’ world was shattered after being robbed of thousands of dollars by business imposter scammers. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
The New York millennial was bled dry earlier this year by a group of business imposter scammers who used phone number spoofing technology — software used to misleadingly alter caller ID information — to empty his bank account, taking all of his life savings, totaling nearly $30,000.
“It’s devastating,” Phillips, 33, a journalist and an NYC transplant from London, exclusively told The Post. “I can still hear the voices of the people who called me, posing as employees of Chase Bank, claiming there had been fraudulent activity on my account.
“They used fear tactics to basically hypnotize me into handing over all the money I’d worked so hard to earn and save over the last four years.”
Deborah Moss, a 65-year-old caretaker from Northern California, was previously thunderstruck by a similar wave of devastation when an imposter scammer targeted her, draining her Chase account of a shocking $162,000 in 2020.
“I started screaming like you wouldn’t believe,” Moss recently told The Post. “I was, like, ‘Oh, my f—king God.’ I was just hysterical. That was all my money.”
Phillips, who’d just quit his job before being scammed out of his life savings, says he’s desperately tried to track down his fraudsters, hoping to ultimately bring them to justice. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
That’s the sinister trickery of business imposter scams, which have been on a steady rise, outpacing romance scams, family and friend scams, and tech support scams over the past five years.
The crime now ranks as the No.1 consumer complaint of 2025, per data provided to The Post by the Federal Trade Commission.
As of late June, the FTC, which protects folks from deceptive and unjust business practices, has been inundated with over 516,000 imposter scam complaints — totaling a massive $1,691 million in losses.
To get their paws on a target’s money, imposter scammers often call — or email, text or direct message — a victim, pretending to be a representative from a trusted, established company. They typically claim that there’s been some sort of privacy breach or unauthorized dealings on their account.
After spinning a falsified yarn about an alleged faux pas, the wolves in sheep’s clothing then create a sense of urgency and panic about the situation, convincing their prey to hastily transfer large sums of money or divulge personal information to avoid any further malfeasance.
But in reality, they’re the bad guys, siphoning cash and info for their own greedy gain.
And imposter scammers don’t limit their villainy to masquerading as reps for financial institutions like Bank of America or TD Bank — just two of the corporations that Upper East Side granny Nina Mortellito, 86, is suing in New York state court, alleging they failed to protect her from a $700,000 con.
In August 2023, she was allegedly targeted via a pop-up window that falsely warned that her bank accounts were about to be hacked, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Over the course of nine months, Mortellito – who suffers from age-related memory issues – was allegedly convinced by fraudsters to make a series of unusual withdrawals, totaling anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, from Merrill Lynch, TD Bank and UBS Bank accounts, according to court papers.
Although the banks were aware she was vulnerable to scammers, they didn’t raise any alarms, the lawsuit charged.
The Post has reached out to Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, TD Bank and UBS Bank for comment.
Robert Georges, Mortellito’s attorney, told The Post he’s inundated with bank imposter fraud cases from victims plagued with “devastation, embarrassment, confusion and upset” following the violation.
“There’s this fear about how they’re going to live without their life savings,” he continued. “This is a well-known epidemic in America. All the banks are aware that this is a major problem, but we don’t feel that banks are doing a reasonable job to protect people.
“We’re bringing these lawsuits to hopefully effect change.”
Mortellito and her lawyer are seeking unspecified damages against the banks, whom they’re suing for negligence, The Post previously reported.
Business imposter scams have risen steadily over the past five years. 2B – stock.adobe.com
In addition to impersonating bankers in the name of fraud, ne’er-do-wells also commonly pose as customer service staffers for popular retailers, delivery service couriers or utility company workers, just to name a few.
Christopher Brown, a lawyer with the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices, calls the swindles “sophisticated” and credits the prevalence of artificial intelligence with helping fraudsters seem legitimate.
“AI can certainly amplify the scams, making them more believable,” Brown told The Post, noting the multitude of AI-powered spoofing and voice-hijacking tools available to perps. “They’re trying to gain your trust, making you believe they are who they’re claiming to be.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports that U.S. consumers receive approximately 4 billion spoofed calls, including automated robocalls, from money-hungry scammers each month.
To combat the crisis, the FCC recently implemented its STIR/SHAKEN framework. It’s an industry-standard caller ID authentication technology that validates the legitimacy of calls, allowing the phone company of the receiver to verify that a call is, in fact, from the number displayed on the caller ID.
Still, tech-savvy scoundrels manage to circumvent the blocks. Brown encourages folks to remain vigilant.
“Don’t (automatically) trust the caller ID because it might be spoofed,” he advised. “And you should not provide financial information to someone who calls you out of the blue.”
It’s a mistake Phillips, who lives in East New York, Brooklyn, wishes he could undo.
Believing that the spoofed call was legitimate, Phillips followed the scammers’ orders, transferring his funds into the “hidden decoy accounts” that the impostors claimed they’d set up in his name. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
Just seconds before getting a phone call from would-be wrongdoers, he’d received an alert from his Chase app, claiming an unauthorized transaction of $500 had been withdrawn from his account.
“The timing of the call was immaculate,” said Phillips. “After they explained that my account had (been hacked), I immediately asked, ‘Well, how do I know you’re Chase Bank?’ Then I hung up, Googled the number for Chase, and it was the same number that had called me.”
But the thieves had spoofed the bank’s phone number and immediately called back from it.
He answered — and that would ultimately change his life for the worse.
The Brooklynite remembers talking to at least five different people pretending to be bank staffers and law enforcement agents. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
“They proceeded to tell me that my account was under attack, and that they suspected employees at my local branch had stolen my personal details,” he recalled. “They said they’d launched an investigation, and that I needed to move my money into a hidden or ‘decoy’ account that already had my name on it.”
Phillips began panicking.
There wasn’t just one voice scaring him into submission — there were at least five, even people posting as law enforcement and federal agents.
“There was the ambient sounds of a call center,” added Phillips, now realizing the background faux noise was likely an AI sound effect tool.
“And everyone had solid American accents,” remembered the Brit. “So I’m thinking, ‘OK, this is not the typical call from abroad. This is legitimate.’”
The “devastating” realization that he’d just fallen victim to an imposter fraud was almost too difficult for Phillips to bear. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
After being transferred from one hustler to another, Phillips was instructed to go to his local Chase branch and transfer his money into several “decoy” accounts they’d created, instructing him not to disclose to any bank employees the reason for doing so.
The scammers “were very good at manipulating me and telling me what to do,” Phillips lamented. “While at the bank, I secretly had them listening to everything that was happening through my ear pods.”
It wasn’t until the final dollars of his $30K nest egg — cash he’d stashed for extended getaways to Thailand and England — were transferred that Phillips realized he’d been had.
It was an agonizing aha moment.
“I remember feeling so wounded,” said Phillips. “My entire world just came crashing down within the few minutes it took to walk into the bank.
“I was completely devastated.”
Moss tells The Post that she spent over a decade saving money in order to purchase a new house and do home renovations. photo by Chris Hardy
California-based victim Moss was targeted by a fraudster who referred to herself as “Miss Barbara,” a rep for the bank, who called claiming that Moss’ ATM card had been compromised and that she’d be issued a new one in the mail.
Miss Barbara, a sweet-sounding Southern belle, already had Moss’ phone number, address and banking information. The chiseler claimed that all she needed from Moss was a three-digit code that she’d received via text from the bank.
An unwitting Moss recited the code to Barbara, not realizing that those numbers were actually granting the bilker authorization to make a $32,000 wire transfer from her account.
And that was just the first grab.
Both the FTC and FCC warn that business impostors, including bank fraud scammers, are on the rise. NongAsimo – stock.adobe.com
Barbara called Moss for more than a week, each time claiming that her ATM card had been lost in the mail, and asking her to read off the new three-digit code she’d been messaged.
After more than 10 calls, an admittedly “annoyed” Moss, who’d just relocated to a rural area with her partner, took the 40-minute trip into town to get a new card at a Chase branch.
However, instead of a piece of plastic, the entrepreneur was given the shock of her life — and almost no sympathy.
“The bank manager pulled up my account and said, ‘There’s no money in your account, whatsoever. As a matter of fact, in the last week, you’ve (accrued a) $989 deficit that you owe us,’” she recalled, alleging that the worker threatened to have her removed from the premises if she didn’t stop screaming.
“I went to the cops, and they pretty much laughed in my face,” Moss claimed. “They said, ‘Oh, man, forget it. You’ll never get that money back.’ They didn’t do anything. There was no investigation.”
The West Coaster claims she reached out to her bank and police, as well as local and federal government officials for help. photo by Chris Hardy
Phillips alleges having a similarly unpleasant interaction with the New York Police Department immediately after being victimized.
“I remember walking into the police station the same day this happened. I told an officer I’d been scammed out of thousands,” said the London native. “He laughed really loud and said, ‘You’re f—ked.’
“I was in disbelief,” continued Phillips, adding that he’s more recently been contacted with an investigator, who allegedly “apologized” for his colleague’s conduct, and mapped out a plan to subpoena Chase for any information regarding the bank’s accounts in which monies were transferred.
The Post has reached out to the NYPD for comment.
While both Phillips and Moss were banking with Chase at the time of their respective scams, business fraudsters can impersonate almost any company in an effort to pull off a heist. Tamara Beckwith/N.Y.Post
Both he and Moss separately claimed to The Post that Chase also failed to offer them any support toward bringing their respective vandals to justice or recovering their stolen funds.
“The bigger injustice than a scammer stealing money is when your bank doesn’t help customers who fall victim to such a crime,” said Phillips, noting that in the UK, financial institutions repay victims of fraud up to £85,000 (approximately $113,000).
Financial institutions in the U.S., however, are generally not required to reimburse victims of bank fraud under federal law, per the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
“In America, the last thing you expect is for your bank to turn its back on you,” he griped, underscoring how “stupid” he’s been made to feel for falling victim to fraud. Phillips is considering taking legal action against Chase.
“All my money is gone, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever get it back.”
A spokesperson for Chase declined to comment on the specifics of either Phillips’ or Moss’ claims.
Thanks to her benefactor, Moss has been able to resume life with a renewed sense of trust in people. photo by Chris Hardy
However, they did share helpful advice for avoiding similar attacks.
“Scammers are increasingly using technology like phone spoofing to impersonate trusted institutions,” the rep told The Post, “which is why we regularly remind everyone your bank will never call and ask for your account information, tell you to transfer money to ‘protect’ it, insist you lie to bankers about a transaction, or pressure you to act immediately.”
“If you encounter any of these red flags — whether by phone, text, email or online — hang up and call the number on the back of your card.”
‘All my money is gone, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever get it back.’Noel Phillips
The tips would have been helpful to Moss at the time of her violation. But even without them, she miraculously recovered every penny of her stolen funds — no thanks to the bank or law enforcement.
The six-figure sum came from a random Good Samaritan.
“My story made national news, and I got a call from this lady who said, ‘I saw your story on TV, and I want to write you a check for $162,000,’” recalled Moss. “I didn’t know her. It was totally crazy.”
The kindly stranger — who Moss chose not to identify for privacy — was an elderly, wealthy woman from Napa County, California. She had no hidden agendas, nor any expectation for reimbursement.
She just wanted to do the right thing, says Moss, adding that the check was like manna from heaven that restored her faith in humanity.
“(The woman and I) don’t talk much,” she confessed. “But I write her every New Year, telling her she’s changed my life.
“And I’ll do that until the day I die.”
Here are Chase Bank’s tips for avoiding imposter scams
Owing to the prevalence of artificial intelligence and spoofing technologies, authorities advise consumers against trusting the phone numbers that pop up on their caller IDs, as well as the voices on the other end of the line. NY Post Design
Do not respond to phone, text or internet requests for money or access to your computer or bank accounts. Banks will never call, text or email asking for you to send money to yourself or anyone else to prevent fraud.
If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from your bank, the best thing to do is hang up immediately and call your bank at the number on the back of your debit or credit card.
A bank will never call and ask you to verify information about your account, but we may need to verify information when you call us.
Consider adding a call protector app to your phone to flag calls that are likely scams. Set up a code word with your close circle and always confirm callers by contacting them back on a phone number you know to be theirs.
Chase Credit Journey offers free credit and identity monitoring, including alerts to let you know if your personal information is exposed in a data breach or on the dark web. You don’t have to be a Chase customer to use it.
The bank also hosts more than 1,000 free, open-to-the-public workshops focused on fraud and scam prevention at branches annually, an average of three per day.
If you feel you’ve been scammed, contact your bank to discuss how to best protect your banking information and verify recent transactions to ensure no fraudulent activity on your account. Report the incident to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
প্রকাশিত: 2025-10-28 01:21:00
উৎস: nypost.com
