Barclays has warned customers about a key sign that a message purportedly from the bank is not legitimate.
The issue came to light after a customer contacted Barclays over social media about a text message they had received. They shared an image of the message and asked: "Is this a legit number for you to use to contact people?"
The message read: "BARCLAYS: Your OTP code to approve a debit of 3733.50 to AVIVA is 44346. If you did NOT do this call us on 0330 133 0198 Ref: BR45." The text had come from a mobile number with the '+447' prefix.
In response, Barclays said: "I can assure you that we would never text from a number that is +44." The bank also asked if the person was a customer with AVIVA.
The group explained: "If not, then this would certainly seem to be a scam text in my opinion. If you would like to make sure that your account is safe then you can certainly give a call to our fraud team on 0800 3891 652 and their lines are open 24/7 for you."
The customer responded to confirm they had never had any dealings with AVIVA. Scammers often send texts and emails to people pretending to be from a bank or other legitimate group.
They will often include a link to a bogus website where people are lured into handing over their banking or personal details.
If you receive a suspicious phone call or message purportedly from your bank, one way you can check what is actually going on and if you need to do anything, is to use the 159 service.
By calling this number, you will be connected to a legitimate helpline for your bank. These banks are signed up to the service:
- Bank of Ireland UK
- Bank of Scotland
- Barclays
- Cater Allen Private Bank
- Chase
- Co-operative Bank
- Danske Bank
- First Direct
- Halifax
- HSBC
- Lloyds
- Metro Bank
- Modulr
- Monzo
- Nationwide Building Society
- NatWest
- Revolut
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Santander
- Spring
- Starling Bank
- Tide
- True Potential
- TSB
- Ulster Bank
- Virgin Money
- Zempler Bank
Several telephone companies are also signed up to the 159 service:
- BT (including EE and Plusnet)
- Gamma
- O2 (including giffgaff)
- Sky
- Three
- Vodafone
- TalkTalk
- Virgin Media
