Turkish economic expert Dr. Serkan Varsak has issued a serious warning to citizens about the recently widespread card (International Bank Account Number) fraud methods.
Milli.Az reports that fraudsters send small amounts of money to random individuals’ accounts in order to launder dirty money.
The process works as follows:
Money is transferred to your account from an unknown person.
Soon after, someone calls and says: "Sorry, I accidentally sent money to your account, please return the money to this card number I give you."
The moment you send that money to the account they indicate, you become an accomplice to the crime. Because the person who sent the money to you and the account you return the money to are different, and you become a link in the "money laundering" chain.
If money has been transferred to your account from an unknown person:
Do not send the money directly back to that person.
Immediately contact your bank and report the situation.
Demand that the bank return or freeze the amount to the account it originated from (only the original source). In this way, you stay clear of legal responsibility.
Expert Serkan Varsak also provided information about other methods:
Especially university students are offered to rent their cards for a monthly payment. This is a direct crime and has severe legal consequences.
On car or real estate sites, ads are posted at prices much lower than the market value. A small deposit ("earnest money") is requested from the customer, and in this way, thousands of people are deceived.
The numbers companies use to correspond with customers are stolen and fake messages are sent to customers saying "The company's IBAN (International Bank Account Number) has changed, please make the payment here."