‘It was so legit’: 70-year-old Côte Saint-Luc woman defrauded in convincing phone scam

Arlene Goldberg, a 70-year-old from Côte Saint-Luc, says a scammer posing as her bank duped her out of thousands by making the call look official (Credit: Shutterstock)

A woman from Côte Saint-Luc is warning others after falling victim to a credit card scam, highlighting the growing sophistication of fraudsters.

On Monday, 70-year-old Arlene Goldberg said she received a phone call from a 1-800 number that appeared to come from her bank.

The caller, who identified himself as “Mathieu” from the bank’s fraud department, asked for her by name.

Goldberg said she was immediately put on alert, having previously been a victim of fraud two years ago.

“So, I said, ‘How do I know you’re really calling from the [my] bank? Because ‘I don’t really you know,’” she recounted.

“Mathieu” then pointed out that he was calling from the same number printed on the back of her credit card.

“And it was! It was that number. They are getting so freaking sophisticated, these scammers,” she said.

The caller asked if she had made three transactions totalling about $4,000. When she said no, he told her that her card would be partially blocked and texted her a verification code.

“It was legitimately exactly like the bank,” Goldberg said.

The caller then asked Goldberg to provide the code. She said she initially refused because her bank usually asks her to type the code in herself.

But he convinced her by giving what he claimed was his employee number and confirming her home address.

“I don’t know how they get your address, but they can get anything nowadays,” Goldberg said.

The person told Goldberg she would receive a new credit card in 10 business days — a red flag, Goldberg noted, because the last time she was defrauded, the bank sent a new card by registered mail within 48 hours.

Right after hanging up the phone, Goldberg called her bank.

“And the girl at the bank says to me, ‘yeah, you have totally been scammed and defrauded.’ She goes ‘and these three charges that he just told you about just appeared now, like 15 minutes ago,’ I said that’s when he called me.”

The bank representative told Goldberg they never give out employee numbers and cancelled her card.

“I don’t fall for these things, I’m hyper vigilant. But it was like, so legit, and then all these charges start coming on my card,” she said. “But I knew the mistake I made was when I gave the guy the code.”

Technology analyst Carmi Levy said these types of scams are on the rise, and it’s becoming increasingly easy for fraudsters to use technology to appear legitimate.

“Today, it looks frighteningly real and it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between a fraudulent call and a real one,” Levy explained.

He emphasized that when someone receives a text or call claiming they are being defrauded, it’s emotionally jarring, and panic sets in. People often end up pushing their skepticism aside as they try to resolve the problem.

“Unfortunately, cyber criminals, fraudsters are using our information against us. They are taking data that they have collected from previous data breaches, putting it all together,” he said.

“And so, they know your name, they know your address, they know certain details, maybe your credit card number. You know the expiration date, things like that.”

Levy said that when scammers ask for a security code, it’s often the final piece of information they need to access an account.

He also warned that no legitimate bank or credit card company would call and ask a customer to authenticate over the phone or online.

“The only real protection we have is to assume that every phone call or every text message or every email that we receive is not legitimate, and so we should not be engaging in any communication that was originated by any third party,” Levy said.

Having been targeted twice, Goldberg is now urging others to hang up the phone and call the bank directly if they receive a suspicious message or call.

“The bank said that the charges are currently pending but that if they go through that I will be reimbursed,” she added.