Do we think this is a text message scam?

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zeeke87@reddit

The fact it’s a mobile number shows it’s a scam. You don’t even need to know anymore. Pretty sure Lloyds security team isn’t a dude ringing from his phone.

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No_Preference9093@reddit

Phone Lloyds directly to check. If he phoned that number to ask they will obviously say it’s real. I doubt it is.

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

He messaged via the app and they said it's real.

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gensererme@reddit

So an AI chatbot said it was real…?

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

Well that's my concern. That, or inept Cs agents. How could they tell whether it's genuine or not via a phone call?

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gensererme@reddit

They can tell you if such a message has been sent.

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nivlark@reddit

It is not. No bank or other major business will ever text you from a mobile number.

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Ok-Bag3000@reddit

This screams scam to me but.........Phone them. On a completely different phone and only use the fraud team number you find on the Lloyd's website.

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Mysterious_One9@reddit

Santander do the exact same. They use a mobile number to tell you about declined transactions.

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It's a scam. Four obvious red flags: 1) The message doesn't mention Lloyds by name. This is probably because the scammers only have the last 4 digits of the card (because a lot of websites store those) and that isn't enough to identify the card issuer. 2) It's come from a mobile number, versus a "short code" 5-digit number or a named sender. This isn't necessarily all that unusual, but I would expect something better from one of the big banks. 3) It's detailing a negative consequence to not responding ("we'll stop future card payments") which is designed to cause panic and induce a response. 4) The wording is incredibly clumsy around "or NO if you didn't try to do that". It doesn't make sense with the words earlier in that sentence, and no bank would write it like that. I imagine if your father replied, he would be asked to confirm the full credit card number and CV2 code (websites often store the expiry date along with the last 4 digits) to "prove his identity".

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Street-Frame1575@reddit

Exactly this. Just ignore the message, review the account and then deal with the bank directly if you've any queries. General rule is never to reply to these messages even if they are genuine - the bank's system will have all the info needed and the communication channel isn't relevant.

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Venus_Gospel@reddit

You’d be surprised at just how many people actually say YES which authorises the payment and pushes it through, when told to do so over the phone. People often share the OTP with a caller even though the text says it will never be asked for on the phone

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SevMara@reddit

Just so you are aware: You cannot reply to named senders, to allow the user to reply they must use a number. Either a long number or a short code. Also, anyone can use any named sender (alpha senders) - I can use our orgs sms infrastructure to send out texts from “Lloyds” if I wanted. (We’d likely get banned by our provider for fraud, but I could do it at least once if I was malicious) Named senders are indicative of nothing, and shouldn’t be trusted.

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gazchap@reddit

Valid points. The SMS infrastructure is ludicrously insecure for this kind of thing, but (like SMTP) there's not an awful lot that can be done about it at this point.

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MaximumScary1290@reddit

Yep its always a scam. Just block and report, if you reply to it, they know the number is live, so they will start sending even more spam.

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Embarrassed_Park2212@reddit

On the site that I check numbers it has this down as credit card fraud and it is pretending to be from Halifax or MBNA,. I wouldn't reply to it and I'd also block the number. Has your dad made this payment and is it showing in his bank account?.

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Classic_Mammoth_9379@reddit

The problem is that the scammers spoof the caller ID to communicate -> victims report the scam -> valid numbers get flagged as being used by scammers.

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

Well he said his cc looks like it's been cloned or something and he is speaking to customer services to resolve it. My main question was whether this text was real or not. All a bit odd and hard to decipher. He has been scammed before you see...

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Agentorangebaby@reddit

Whoever composed it as an idiot.

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Gullflyinghigh@reddit

Phone them. I had a similar message when I ordered something online a few years back and couldn't tell if it was real or not. It turned out to be real and stopped me losing a few hundred, though I would've put money on it being a scam at the time.

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West_Yorkshire@reddit

It's coming from a mobile number... So yes.

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Koda614@reddit

Despite the people claiming the number is fake, it’s a genuine number used for credit card services at Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland/MBNA. While someone correctly pointed out there is a method of confirming transactions in the app, this is used by the fraud team to confirm you did or didn’t make a purchase after it’s taken place and they want to investigate. If you don’t want to reply you don’t have to. You can ignore that and it will automatically block that merchant from trying again. Call then number on the back of your card and ask to speak to the fraud team. They can then manually review the details and approve or deny future requests from that merchant over a trusted phone number. Just allow plenty of time if calling the number on the back of your card. You have to pass elevated security and they will ask a lot of questions. Nothing to worry about, but don’t assume you’ll be all done and sorted in 5 minutes.

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nivlark@reddit

>Despite the people claiming the number is fake, it’s a genuine number used for credit card services at Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland/MBNA. No, it is not. It's a mobile number registered to 3 that has been compromised. A genuine message from a bank or other major business will never come from a consumer mobile number, and should always have Caller ID that will identify it as the business.

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gazchap@reddit

If this is real then whoever composed that message template needs some more training. But yes, calling the bank via the number on the back of the card is the best way to put this to bed once and for all.

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mistensong@reddit

Exactly this. If genuine, it goes against pretty much everything the anti-fraud experts say. It's got so many red flags I can't believe a bank would genuinely send this. I would 100% flag this as a scam and just delete the message.

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

>Despite the people claiming the number is fake, it’s a genuine number used for credit card services at Lloyds/Halifax/Bank of Scotland/MBNA. Well if he replies then it will go to that number so if its a scam it's a bad one. I called the number BTW and it just said some jibberish - did not sound genuine at all. Something about coding a message.

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ARobertNotABob@reddit

Reply with Who is "us"?

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nivlark@reddit

Yes, an extremely obvious one. * From a mobile number * Bad grammar, clearly not written by a native speaker * Threat of negative consequences * Ambiguity - no specific mention of the bank or customer by name (because the scammer doesn't have that information) * Nonsensical business name

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MountainMuffin1980@reddit

It looks like a scam, however I bet it's not (he should contact his bank to check). I say this because I had a very similar one from a random ass number about unauthorised Barclaycard payments which didn't show on my app so it looked sus as fuck.

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Coconutpieplates@reddit

Call the number on his bank card. I don't understand why people would do anything else. Then you know you're speaking to a legit bank worker and they put you through to fraud.

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

If you get lots of these texts then calling the bank every day would get annoying. I'm trying to help myself and others understand whether this is a scam and to ignore it or not.

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

He says he spoke to them and there was some problem with attempted purchases. I just want to know whether this text is a scam or not. It could be a sophisticated one from scammers to help unlock transactions. It's just a point of interest, he's dealing with the bank seperately.

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rohepey@reddit

Someone texting you from a random mobile number, and you're having doubts whether it's a bank? No, it's not a bank. Banks don't use random mobile numbers to message customers.

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Top-Cat-a@reddit

There's a very simple answer to this Did your father use the card to pay £30 at the time indicated. If he did then the text message shows knowledge of a legitimate transaction, so reply YES If he didn't then there's no need to reply

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

No, he did not.

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snakeoildriller@reddit

Have you tried calling the number (withholding your own)?

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

Yes - it says something about code not configured. Nothing banky

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djfnejdijRandom@reddit

Several people have mentioned in passing but I’ll mention again - it’s ESSENTIAL never to call the number a suspect text comes from or click on a link they send you. Always independently verify the number for the bank fraud team or customer services.

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Geofferz@reddit (OP)

100%, thanks.

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MrMonkeyman79@reddit

It looks like a scam, however banks will send texts about suspicious transactions (though they don't threaten to cancel all payments if you dont respond), so if in doubt, call the bank and they'll tell you if it was them or not.

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IntrusiveUK@reddit

This is surely fake. “No if you did not try to do that” loool

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BabaYagasDopple@reddit

Absolutely a scam

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VictoryAppropriate68@reddit

Banks and other official businesses now will come up as ‘bank name’ in the contacts. Anything other than this is a scam, that doesn’t mean ones that have ‘bank name’ are legit as there are still scams out there but literally ANYTHING from a mobile or landline I revive gets blocked without even looking. If it’s legitimate, I’ll be contacted via official channels to tell me so

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SomeHSomeE@reddit

Weirdly my (legit) Natwest ones sometimes have just a random mobile number. But agree OP's one looks suspect.

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Flaramon@reddit

I'm with Lloyds, they do not send text messages like this. They have their own way of verifying payments using their App. Report the message to Lloyds and otherwise ignore it.

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True-Abalone-3380@reddit

> They have their own way of verifying payments using their App. Surely that would only happen if you use their app, others would be contacted by text, email, or phone .

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wonkychicken495@reddit

Have you ever had text from bank before because if so then you would also see all the other message from bank , as when my bank text me its always from the same number

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Commercial-Name-1853@reddit

I would say no just because I’m weary about getting texts from mobile numbers. I’d just call them yourself to make sure that’s what I do

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montybob@reddit

Go to a branch or call a publicly available number. Barclays doesn’t display a number, it just says ‘Barclays’ so that is a red flag in my eyes.

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Obvious-Water569@reddit

It's like what I always say to my users (I'm an IT Manager): If you have to ask whether something is a scam, treat it as a scam.

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