Four young people aged 19 to 21 from Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Seville, and Tarragona are under investigation by the Guardia Civil for a banking scam involving the fraudulent practice known as the ‘false manager’.
One victim received multiple text messages claiming that their bank account had been blocked and instructing them to contact their bank through a provided phone number. During the call, a person pretending to be a bank manager guided the victim through a series of steps to resolve the issue.
While on the call, the victim received several verification codes via SMS, which, following the fake manager’s instructions, were used to authorise five bank transfers totaling over €35,000.
The investigation allowed authorities to recover more than €35,600, most of the stolen funds. They also managed to block the bank accounts that received the money to prevent it from being transferred abroad, which would have complicated any tracking or recovery efforts.
The ‘false manager’ scam typically starts with messages alerting recipients about supposed issues with their bank account. Scammers exploit urgency to prompt victims to call the number provided.
Once communication is established, the fake bank employee claims that there are pending or blocked operations, urging the victim to follow their directives. In this case, the verification codes received by SMS were misused to validate the fraudulent transfers.
The Guardia Civil stresses the importance of being cautious with messages or calls asking for personal or banking information, warning that access codes and verification numbers should never be shared over the phone. They also advise verifying any communication by contacting the bank directly through official channels rather than using links or phone numbers in suspicious messages.
