A WOMAN targeted by scammers who took over $1,000 is still baffled by how they accessed her finances during the night.
Ana Velasquez from North Carolina was blindsided when she awoke to numerous email alerts informing her of 12 withdrawals made on her Cash App account while she was asleep.
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Cash App allows users to send and receive money but in just a few hours, Velasquez’s account was completely drained.
Email alerts started coming in at 2 am on July 31, 2020, informing Velasquez of various withdrawals from her account.
“When I woke up in the morning, I saw a notification, it said I made a payment to this, I made a payment to this and that,” Velasquez told NBC affiliate WRAL.
“My blood just drained, like, what happened?”
The scammers successfully took $1,133 and made continued attempts despite Velasquez disabling her account.
Various withdrawal requests continued to be made with one for as little as 39 cents.
“I guess they tried to see if there’s anything in there,” she said.
Velasquez immediately contacted Cash App for help recovering her finances and discovering how her account was accessed.
However, she was told in an email that due to numerous ongoing investigations at the time, it could “take 60 or more days to complete” an inquiry into her account.
Instead of waiting, Velasquez contacted the news outlet for help and within a week, her money was returned to her, for which she was grateful.
However, no further comment was given by Cash App as to how the money was accessed and what it does to protect customers.
Velasquez noted that she had security measures in place for when money requests were made and this was not triggered when the scammers took her money.
“If somebody requests the money, then I’ll go in and approve it and I put in a pin number,” she explained.
“This was not done with the pin number.”
Top tips on avoiding scams from a bank
As scams become more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, it is important you know how to spot a scam:
- Be skeptical of online deals that seem too good to be true, especially on social media.
- Scammers will often use tactics to make you panicked so you make quick decisions – be cautious if you are told to take immediate action and verify who has contacted you.
- Chase Bank warns customers to “never return any unexpected funds without calling Chase first.”
- Never send money to someone you have only spoken to online or by phone as this is likely a romance scam.
- Unless you 100% know who you are talking to, never give someone remote access to your device.
- Never accept help from strangers at an ATM and always be vigilant when making withdrawals.
- Do not send money or click any links indicating that you have won a prize.
Source: Chase.com
Following the incident and despite having her money returned, Velasquez is no longer using Cash App.
A spokesperson for the company issued a statement to WRAL about phishing scams while failing to explain how scammers bypassed Velasquez’s security measures.
“We are always working to protect our customers, which includes educating them about phishing scams,” the statement read.
“As a reminder, the Cash App team will never ask customers to send them money, nor will they solicit a customer’s PIN or sign-in code outside of the app.
“If you believe you have fallen victim to a scam, you should contact Cash App support through the app or website immediately.
“For more information on common online scams, please visit https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/6482-recognize-scams.”
The U.S. Sun has contacted Cash App for comment.
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