SMS and Phone Scam Targets 70-Year-Old Woman for €98,000 in Italy

How the Scam Works

This phishing scam involved multiple stages of deception designed to steal banking credentials from a vulnerable target.

The victim received an SMS claiming that a bank deposit had been credited to her account. The message instructed her to call a specified number to verify the deposit.

When she called, multiple perpetrators took turns on the line, each playing a different role to build credibility. The first person claimed to be an employee of a payment service company. A second person then intervened, claiming to be an official from the Ancona Police Headquarters, adding institutional authority to the scheme.

Trust-Building Tactics

The scammers used a fabricated "ongoing cyberattack" as justification to extract the victim's banking credentials (username, password, and other authentication details). By impersonating a police official, they leveraged both urgency and the authority of a public institution to lower the victim's defenses.

Once the credentials were obtained, two wire transfers totaling approximately €98,000 were executed almost immediately from her account.

Detection and Recovery

The victim realized she had been defrauded and reported the crime to local police on August 15. Swift action by authorities prevented the second wire transfer from being processed. Police financial investigators traced the first €49,000 transfer to an account held by a 35-year-old man living outside the region who had prior police contact.

Based on the police request, the Ancona judicial authority issued a preventive seizure order on the account, enabling recovery of all €98,000 in stolen funds.

Warning Signs

• SMS-initiated banking contact: Legitimate banks do not request authentication credentials via SMS or unsolicited phone calls.
• Multiple "authorities" in succession: When more than one person claiming to represent different institutions calls you sequentially, it is almost certainly a scam.
• Manufactured urgency: Statements like "an attack is in progress" are designed to suppress critical thinking.
• Officials requesting credentials: Police and government agencies never ask for banking information over the phone.

Prevention Steps

• If you receive an SMS about your bank account, do not call the number in the message. Instead, contact your bank using the official number on your debit or credit card, or visit the official website.
• Never provide authentication credentials—usernames, passwords, or one-time passwords—based on a phone call, regardless of who claims to be calling.
• Assume that any unsolicited caller asking for banking details is a scammer, even if they claim to represent police or government agencies.
• If you spot suspicious transactions, contact your bank immediately to freeze the account and request reversal of unauthorized transfers.