An elderly parent is reportedly devastated after scammers contacted him via email masquerading as his own daughter.
Françoise Schorosch says the criminals said all the right things to her father online, perfectly mimicking the way she writes partially in German and partially in English, The Guardian reports.
The style of scam has been dubbed the “Hi dad” or “Hi mom” fraud, where criminals use sensitive information to pose as someone’s loved one and push them into wiring money.
In Schorosch’s case, hackers were able to access her emails while she was in the process of buying her first home.
“I was sharing discussions about working with solicitors, surveyors and estate agents. I had been keeping him abreast of all of the financials, and getting his advice because this was my first purchase. I suspect that someone managed to access our email exchange and then reach out to him directly.”
By using Schorosch’s email address – but with “email.com” instead of “gmail.com” – the fraudsters were able to contact her dad without raising suspicion, ultimately convincing him to wire €7,000 or about $9,100 from Deutsche Bank to a Nationwide bank account.
A week later, when her dad was wondering why he didn’t get a “thank you” or an update from his daughter, the truth came out.
Neither Nationwide nor Deutsche Bank, where the money was sent from, have reimbursed the victim or offered help.
Nationwide says it first needs to be contacted by Deutsche Bank.
“We are unable to share any details about our customer’s account due to our confidentiality obligations, but can confirm that appropriate steps were taken to investigate and act upon the matters raised with us. As the payment was sent from an account with Deutsche Bank, they need to contact them to help recover the funds. To date, we have had no contact from Deutsche Bank in relation to this payment…
If we receive notification of a scam relating to a payment from overseas, we would still look to apply industry best practice to investigate and repatriate any funds that may remain.”
However, when The Observer asked Deutsche Bank to notify Nationwide, the bank said it could not comment on the case due to German banking secrecy laws.
As for the victim, Schorosch says her dad is still devastated.
“He truly believed his daughter was reaching out to him for financial support and wanted to be of help. He is now retired and living off a pension … I know he has spent several sleepless nights over this.”
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