A bank customer nearly caught out by a sophisticated fraud attempt has revealed how he accidentally foiled the scam by not answering a particular question.
Jack Ashton, 24, was targetted by fraudsters who had set up a fake bank website and even managed to look like they were calling from a real bank number.
But Ashton rumbled the fraudsters when they asked him a question he was unable to answer - leading them to hang up.
Ashton, who works in communications, has a current account with NatWest.
On January 3, he got a text seeming to be from NatWest, telling him an unusual device had tried to access his account.
The text had a link at the bottom to click if he thought the device didn't belong to him.
Has this happened to you? Message mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
Ashton clicked the link and was taken to a NatWest branded, professional-looking website.
He was asked to put in his date of birth and address, but no other personal data.
Then he got a phone call from someone claiming to be from the bank, saying there had been suspicious activity on his account.
Ashton naturally asked the caller how they could prove it was really NatWest calling.
The person on the other end of the line agreed, then sent a 'fake' verification code to the text number NatWest usually contacts him on.
This happens because some fraudsters can simulate calling from a legitimate number and hide their real number, known as 'spoofing'.
Ashton was satisfied that the person on the other end of the line was from NatWest and during the conversation, the caller asked for a couple of digits from his passcode.
Then the "NatWest" caller asked if he was able to put his debit card into the card reader NatWest had given him.
It was only by chance that Ashton was out of the house at the time and his card reader was back at his flat.
He apologised and said he was unable to until he got home.
At that point the line went dead - the other person had hung up. Unbeknownst to him, Ashton had stopped the fraud in its track.
He then realised what had happened and he called the real NatWest fraud team.
But sorting the problem out took several days and his account was frozen in that time to make sure no further frauds could happen.
"Fortunately I didn't lose any money as a result, but it was an unpleasant thing to go through," Ashton said.
"I can't believe it happened to me, and it could easily make you paranoid that it could happen again."
How to stay safe from bank text fraud
Fraudsters' whole job is to be convincing and put you under pressure - and some are highly professional.
But if you get a text from your bank, avoid clicking on any links or giving out financial details.
You can always contact your bank using a number you know is genuine.
While fraudsters can appear to call you from a legitimate bank number, they cannot duplicate a real bank number if you try to call that instead.
Bank trade body UK Finance said criminals often try to impersonate genuine companies in their scams and have shared advice about to help spot such a fraud.
1) Only give out your personal or financial information to services you have consented to and are expecting to be contacted by.
2) Contact your bank or an organisation directly using a known email or phone number.
3) Don’t give anyone remote access to your computer following a cold call or unsolicited text.
4) You can also forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and suspected scam texts to your mobile network provider by forwarding them to 7726.
An easy way to remember 7726 is that they are the numbers on your telephone keypad that spell out the word ‘SPAM’.
