Scammers Spoof Financial Institution’s Real Phone Number, Drain $7,000+ From Connecticut Woman’s Account Through Apple Cash: Report

A Connecticut woman has lost over $7,000 after scammers spoofed her credit union’s real phone number and talked her into sending her savings through Apple Cash.

The 45-year-old Windsor resident, who asked not to be named, says the caller claimed to work in the fraud department at 360 Federal Credit Union, reports NBC Connecticut.

She says her caller ID showed the credit union’s name, and the caller told her that her banking information had been compromised and her accounts needed to be secured.

Because her credit union is small, she says the fact that he knew where she banked made him seem like someone trying to help.

The report says that over a weekend in August, she sent more than $7,000 through Apple Cash to an unknown account, believing she was following her credit union’s instructions.

A fraud warning appeared while she was making the payment, but she says the caller told her the alert was a good sign.

“He goes, ‘Good, good. That’s what we want to see. We’re locking everything down.'”

By the following Monday, her account balance had gone negative.

Says the woman,

“All of a sudden it’s just like, whoa, where’s my money?… This person was very calculated. This definitely was not their first time at all.”

360 Federal Credit Union says it has found no sign that the transaction came from a breach of its systems.

She reached out to Apple and Green Dot Bank, which provides Apple Cash services, but has not been able to recover the money.