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A phone scammer has been talked into dropping the pretence of being a bank employee to reveal his real location, accent and even offer ‘to meet up’ with his intended victim to spend the ill-gotten gains.
Brisbane-based snake catcher Bryce Lockett posted a TikTok on Tuesday of a phone conversation he had with the scam artist, who identified himself as ‘Eric’ from the Queensland-based Suncorp bank.
Mr Lockett, 27, told Daily Mail Australia he posted the TikTok, which has been viewed over 1.5 million times, under his account name of Bryce Grylls to show the techniques scammers use.
‘This was all to show how they work and operate and what to look out for,’ Mr Lockett said.
‘I was actually catching a snake when he called so doing both at the same time is pretty satisfying!’
‘Eric’ told Mr Lockett he worked for Suncorp’s ‘financial advice and fraud investigation team’ and was calling from the Sunshine State to tell him his account had flagged with six suspicious transactions to a site called crypto.com.
The scammer said he needed Mr Grylls to verify his identity to stop the transactions and that he would provide a ‘call reference number’.
Mr Lockett played along until he abruptly challenged the man by saying ‘you are pretty good at doing the scams yourself’.
‘Pardon sir’ said the politely spoken ‘Eric’ in a well enunciated British accent.
‘I don’t scam sir. I work at the bank.’
‘You don’t? Because this is the third time this has happened to me and I have already called Suncorp every time,’ Mr Lockett said.
There is a short pause before the man replies in a decidedly broader UK accent.
‘You wouldn’t even believe I was f***ing from Scotland would you?’ he says with a guffaw.
‘I am not even from Australia.’
Brisbane based snake catcher Bryce Lockett talked a phone scammer into dropping the pretence of being a bank employee to reveal his real location, accent and even offer ‘to meet up’
Mr Lockett laughs and says: ‘Nice try bro.’
Now that he’s his true identity has been uncovered, the scammer asks ‘What’s it like in Australia?’
‘F***ing hot,’ Mr Lockett’s replies.
Incredibly the scammer says he would like to ‘come to Australia one day’ and that the pair should meet up.
‘Well, if you would stop scamming all my money I would f***ing take you all around,’ Mr Lockett said.
The scammer said he needed Mr Grylls to verify his identity to stop the transactions and that he would provide a ‘call reference number’
Unfazed by the accusation, the con artists says: ‘Bro, I’m going to scam everybody else’s money. I am going to take you around.’
Mr Lockett then asks why the man feels the need to scam others.
‘I make a lot of money doing it sir,’ he says.
‘You make money but everyone else loses out on their money,’ Mr Lockett points out.
‘I don’t give a f*** mate,’ the scammer callously says.
‘I’m not going to meet them once in my life. They ain’t going to benefit me … they get the money back from Suncorp, so it’s fine.’
Mr Lockett, here seen with a python, says he might not have been so polite to the scammer if he wasn’t in front of clients
Mr Lockett said the scammer had used all the normal terminology a Suncorp employee would and on other occasions scammers had called him displaying the bank’s number.
Unfortunately the fraudulent transactions ‘Eric’ was talking about did occur a few weeks previously.
His card was ‘skimmed’ and around $1000 were spent on gift cards. He is currently in talks with Suncorp to get the money back.
He reflected on his exchange with ‘Eric’ by saying ‘it’s a pretty sad time we live in with this type of 21st century bank robber’.
‘The call went a lot nicer then I normally take it, as I was in front of clients at the time,’ Mr Lockett said.
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