TRANFERWISE HACKED

harryopal

Transferwise recently changed to Wise.com. Coinciding with the change I had made a small transfer to a friend in the US. It was not received. I tried the various "help" links which were not helpful. Tried to call a Wise number but gave up after about 15 minutes of mobile costs. I then posted a message on their Facebook page. Last night I received a call from "Wise" to help with the problems and refund the lost transaction. Asked to connect to a Wise.com/gosupport which then connected me to a remote access site to connect the laptop. I allowed access. In the process they were using a Wise Transfer page so it all seemed legit. With slow internet and mobile phone drop outs it took an inordinate amount of time. I asked to terminate the access to my laptop which they refused saying they had to complete the process. I shut down the laptop and turned off the internet. Long and short of it is they scammed $2700 and were lined up to take another $1000. Had there been a user friendly Wise help to deal with this I feel I would not have got into this mess. I have found a means of reporting this to Wise but am not optimistic as to the result.

tel522

harryopal wrote Transferwise recently changed to Wise.com. Coinciding with the change I had made a small transfer to a friend in the US. It was not received. I tried the various "help" links which were not helpful. Tried to call a Wise number but gave up after about 15 minutes of mobile costs. I then posted a message on their Facebook page. Last night I received a call from "Wise" to help with the problems and refund the lost transaction. Asked to connect to a Wise.com/gosupport which then connected me to a remote access site to connect the laptop. I allowed access. In the process they were using a Wise Transfer page so it all seemed legit. With slow internet and mobile phone drop outs it took an inordinate amount of time. I asked to terminate the access to my laptop which they refused saying they had to complete the process. I shut down the laptop and turned off the internet. Long and short of it is they scammed $2700 and were lined up to take another $1000. Had there been a user friendly Wise help to deal with this I feel I would not have got into this mess. I have found a means of reporting this to Wise but am not optimistic as to the result.

Sorry about your problem harry , I will watch out for that ,so far they have been great ,let us know what help "wise" give you with this loss .

ronb

I tried wise.com/gosupport just now and it says page does not exist - as it should. It is a mystery how they got that to work for you. It would seem to require someone to have access to the wise.com web-site with admin rights. Had they been hacked?

harryopal

ronb wrote I tried wise.com/gosupport just now and it says page does not exist - as it should. It is a mystery how they got that to work for you. It would seem to require someone to have access to the wise.com web-site with admin rights. Had they been hacked?

I have just received the first contact by email from Wise. I am to report the matter to the Wise Singapore office. If I can develop a clearer picture of what happened I will post it.

bp-admin

https://wise.com/help/articles/2978048/i-may-be-the-victim-of-fraud-or-a-scam

PERtoDPS

Sounds like you got phised somehow did you service your laptop or give someone remote access? I don't think wise would rip it off they make a tonne of money. I think you'll likely go through a long annoying process and get your funds back. Sorry to hear man, that's a lot of dosh and good luck!

harryopal

I posted a message on Wise Facebook after finding I could not get the original unfinished small transfer dealt with using the various "help" and contact links on the Wise site. The Scammers used the Wise Polri system to channel the funds. Not sure how they access that. The big mistake was allowing direct access to my laptop. In the past not so unusual to deal with technical problems. When I bought this refurbished laptop from HP in the states it was delivered without drivers. Allowing direct access enabled that to be fixed. However, with scamming at a much higher level that now is not to be done. At the heart of the matter is that the original small transfer problem could not be readily sorted due to a lack of Wise "help" links that simply did not address the problem.The telephone direction to log in to Wise.com/gosupport was what led me to fall in. I have found a means of emailing Wise full details but can't imagine any positive outcome although I would still like to know what happened to the failed small transfer. With the advantage of hindsight it was silly of me to allow direct access. Ahh well, as Ned Kelly said just before they hanged him, "Such is life."

harryopal

PERtoDPS wrote Sounds like you got phised somehow did you service your laptop or give someone remote access? I don't think wise would rip it off they make a tonne of money. I think you'll likely go through a long annoying process and get your funds back. Sorry to hear man, that's a lot of dosh and good luck!

No, I don't think I was ripped off by Wise. From checking the phone log it would appear that the scammers were in Bangladesh. What makes if so irritating is that I found it so difficult to find a way of enquiring about the original missing transaction of just $25 US which was not received at the intended account. It was frustation which led me to leave a message on the Wise Facebook page asking to be contacted and leaving my mobile number. The call from the scammers posing as Wise was given credibility by them directing me to Wise.com which then morphed into Gosupply and accepting their access to my laptop. From there to the Wise site to transfer a refund to my account. A rather bitter lesson learned to never again allow direct access to my laptop which once was not so unusual for dealing with technical problems. I am to call the Singapore Wise office on Monday and report the matter to police (If there is a Bali computer scam dedicated police section) but I think there is Buckley's of ever getting the funds back. However, thanks for the commiseration

PERtoDPS

Shit man I'm sorry to hear but honestly I KNEW it had to be something like that. However just for your entertainment I will post some great youtubes to watch on this topic, others who are unaware should also watch: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=scammer+payback https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kitboga https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jim+browning At least you will know what's going on the Indians, I love watching those videos when I've had a few beers, but they serve a great cause.

Mas_Max

harryopal wrote No, I don't think I was ripped off by Wise. From checking the phone log it would appear that the scammers were in Bangladesh. What makes if so irritating is that I found it so difficult to find a way of enquiring about the original missing transaction of just $25 US which was not received at the intended account. It was frustation which led me to leave a message on the Wise Facebook page asking to be contacted and leaving my mobile number. The call from the scammers posing as Wise was given credibility by them directing me to Wise.com which then morphed into Gosupply and accepting their access to my laptop. From there to the Wise site to transfer a refund to my account. A rather bitter lesson learned to never again allow direct access to my laptop which once was not so unusual for dealing with technical problems. I am to call the Singapore Wise office on Monday and report the matter to police (If there is a Bali computer scam dedicated police section) but I think there is Buckley's of ever getting the funds back. However, thanks for the commiseration

Sorry for your bad experience. It's good that you learned never to give anyone you don't fully trust remote access to your computer. Please also learn the other, perhaps even more important lesson: Never share personal data like your phone number on social media. It gives the bad guys too many attack vectors.

harryopal

Mas_Max wrote Sorry for your bad experience. It's good that you learned never to give anyone you don't fully trust remote access to your computer. Please also learn the other, perhaps even more important lesson: Never share personal data like your phone number on social media. It gives the bad guys too many attack vectors.

Yes, I quite agree. But easy for me to be wise after the event. I was just so exasperated at finding it near impossible to get any person response from Wise about the seemingly lost $35 that I abandoned my usual caution. I think it was last Thursday I went to the Cyber Police Office at Police headquarters with a report on the scam. A 100k round trip through rather dense traffic. It seems the police and Wise are inhabiting different alternative realities. Wise take the fantastical line that they are following up and trying to get the recipient bank to return the money which, they say, might take months or not at all. With the Cyber police an officer read the report and stamped and signed a copy for me to give to Wise. I got his name, a mobile number and an email address. As I later found the mobile number and email address don't work. I might use the central police number to try and speak to the guy but I have no expectation of results from either the police or Wise. The Cyber police are mainly interested in tracking "false information"... basically anything critical of seriously important people. As for scams, based on data from the National Cyber and Crypto Agency ( BSSN ), from January to August 2020, there were nearly 190 million cyber attack attempts in Indonesia, up more than four times compared to the same period last year which was recorded at around 39 million. Realistically, is it likely the police will bother with one case losing just $2700? And as for Wise? Seasoned hackers siphon money immediately transfer from one account to another account and.... will anything happen from now? I don't think so.

Mark

Sorry to hear about the scam harry, and thanks very much for sharing the experience. I will avoid using this company. I know others have said it's the best thing since sliced bread (and your being scammed was technically not their fault), but the lack of responsive customer service in transactions involving the transfers of money is a deal breaker for me. Plus, the noncommittal follow up to your situation is appalling. Ironically, they are a sponsor of this forum and I see their banner below as I type...

Mas_Max

Yeah, I think that, unfortunately, you're better off just taking the L on that one and not expecting to get any funds back or receiving any amount of significant support/assistance from Wise or the cops. I know it must be really frustrating, but spending energy on this continuously will only drain you more. It really sucks. And it happens all day long. The perps are semi-professional full-time scammers - it's literally their job to do these type of things and while it is rare that they get caught at all, it is even rarer for them to be apprehended and sentenced. It's become an industry, which is mostly based in India and Bangladesh when targetting English-speaking folks.

harryopal

Thank you Mark and Mas Mak for your responses. Despite all that I will still use Wise for speedy deliveries. It is true that their response to problems is seriously deficient but I have learned that with perseverance you can actually.... eventually touch base and deal with a human being. Unfortunately it seems that so many large on line service providers see easy contact as a time consuming and costly activity and avoid dealing directly with clients as easy access would probably result in thousands of on going exchanges between them and clients. Profit is the name of the game not running some sentimental costly service where the customers' needs coming first. It helps to have a sense of humour. I did get this response, " I agree with you that our communication was not the best in this specific case, and I have given feedback to the appropriate agents. As gesture of good will form our side, I have allocated a free transfer of 1500GBP on your current Wise account. " For one exciting moment I interpreted that as them compensating me with 1500GBP but a more sober reading is that they were allowing me a transfer fee free and saving me maybe about $8. It could have been a lot worse. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/dec/05/phone-call-fraud-victim-refund From January to August 2020, there were nearly 190 million cyber attack attempts in Indonesia, up more than four times compared to the same period last year which was recorded at around 39 million. Realistically, is it likely the police will bother with one case losing just $2700? And as for Wise? Seasoned hackers who siphon money immediately transfer from one account to another account and.... So unless some asks or there is an actual follow up I will now let this episode fade away

PERtoDPS

Mas_Max wrote Yeah, I think that, unfortunately, you're better off just taking the L on that one and not expecting to get any funds back or receiving any amount of significant support/assistance from Wise or the cops. I know it must be really frustrating, but spending energy on this continuously will only drain you more. It really sucks. And it happens all day long. The perps are semi-professional full-time scammers - it's literally their job to do these type of things and while it is rare that they get caught at all, it is even rarer for them to be apprehended and sentenced. It's become an industry, which is mostly based in India and Bangladesh when targetting English-speaking folks.

I feel bad for harry, but the company is not at fault. It's 2021, all customer service of every company is shit. If I was the manager, I'd find a way to cop it on the chin, IF I could see harry sends a lot of money around, is a loyal customer etc, but it's by no means "what they are obliged to do", Harry knows it's his mistake, even admits it, to get a customer who even owns up to that and doesn't try to bluff is rare, I really hope he gets his money back too, but it's not really fair to judge the company on that. Don't forget, the company probably has to decipher if Harry is a scammer etc too, there is just so many angles to look at here.