Tom Honeyands, the tech reviewer known as 'The Tech Chap', lost £70,000 in a phone scam, leaving him furious and embarrassed. He now wonders if he revealed too much in his social media videos.
The Scam Call
While on a work trip to Tokyo, Honeyands received a call from someone claiming to be from Lloyds bank. The caller asked about a transaction in Singapore. When Honeyands denied it, the scammer said his account was compromised and needed security resets.
Honeyands, who has 1.63 million YouTube subscribers, believes the scammers pieced together his profile from his videos. “The only thing I can think of is that banking icons are on my computer home screen,” he said. “I make video content for a living and if someone sees Lloyds, that’s one bit of information.”
Vulnerability and Regret
The call came late at night, and Honeyands suspects scammers knew he was traveling from his social media posts. Jet lag and confusion led him to fall for the phishing scam. “I was at a dinner, and it was difficult to hear. That definitely contributed to me not paying full attention,” he admitted. He answered several personal questions.
“I feel like I am a fairly intelligent guy. I should know better. They knew my name, address, who I banked with, that I was traveling,” he said. “You can put together enough information to phone me and, just this once, it worked, which is pretty embarrassing.”
How the Scam Worked
The fraudster claimed to be from the bank's fraud team and asked Honeyands to cancel payments. Codes sent to verify cancellations were actually verifications for new payees. Over a few hours, Honeyands made 12 verifications, allowing criminals to steal £70,000.
He only realized when Lloyds' real security team called. “I had the hacker on hold and the actual bank security team on another line and was thinking, ‘Who is real?’” The real caller told him to hang up and call back on the number on his bank card.
Advice for Others
Honeyands warns about sharing details online. “It’s like the old thing of not sharing social posts when you’re traveling because your house is empty. In a similar way, if you ever show pictures of your phone screen and it has your bank on it, then that’s one more bit of information for the criminals.”
Lloyds advises customers to call back on a trusted line if a call is suspicious, using the number on the back of their debit card.
