While I was in the state of shock, this smooth-talking man, well versed in coercion techniques, continued with instructions. I was told to immediately drive to the bank so I could personally stop the debit process. He would provide me with further instructions as to how that could be done while we were en route, therefore the phone had to remain on. He warned that I should not say a word to anybody. He strongly emphasized that I could not trust anybody. Nobody was above suspicion. There have been reported cyber attacks in our area so his last words made sense to my agitated thinking. I proceeded to my car without further questions which is highly out of character for me and a very strong indicator as to my elevated stress.
The bank is a 20-minute drive away and it was teeming with rain. During the commute, I calmed down enough to think more rationally about the situation. I checked to see if the agent he was still tuned in and he was. I was his captive. The positive was that he provided me company as I drove the horribly wet highway. As I traveled along, he tried to build a rapport by asking if the roads were safe. He cautioned me to take good care while driving. He sounded genuinely sincere. I almost believed he cared about me and my safety, not just my bank account. Having his attention, I started to ask questions about my bank’s usual procedures. He could not answer them all or rather, said he’d answer once at the bank. To amuse myself, I began to think of him as ‘the voice’. This not only amused me but also enabled me to detach from him and my state of panic diminished somewhat. Being calmer, in turn, encouraged my boldness. My questions gushed in a steady flow and seemed to cause ‘the voice’ some impatience, even annoyance. I will admit that sometimes my questions do garner that response from people. I just ignored his edginess and more questions spilled off my tongue. Most were evaded. My uneasiness regarding his true identity and purposes, solidified into strong suspicions. I voiced these to him, at length of course. He responded with saying how very offended and hurt he was. Poor baby! Unbeknowst to him, our cat-and-mouse roles were changing. I was becoming the cat.
Having arrived at the bank, I parked the car. The voice instructed me to withdraw $9500 (the amount of the supposed draft). He would provide further instructions once the withdrawal was complete. I asked him why should I withdraw when I could simply freeze the account. He responded that if the fraudster worked for the bank, he/she would override my request. I noted that he was sounding pretty exacerbated. Good! Playing along, I left the phone on, as he requested, and went inside to queue up for a teller. While waiting in line, I took a small scrap of paper out of my purse and wrote ‘fraud’ on it. Approaching the teller, I passed her the note, and indicated the phone was on so we could be heard by the fraudster. I asked to withdraw $9500 from my account. She read the note and being a quick thinker, she said that she did not have enough cash on hand. I returned to the car, explained the situation which, of course, he had already heard. The ‘voice’ asked if I would go to another branch. I replied an emphatic “No! It is a 2-hour drive away!” The blatantly frustrated ‘voice’, asked me to go back and ask the teller when the cash would be there. This was getting to be fun so rather than a deluge of questions or argue, and making sure that the phone was still on, I put a big grin on my face and went back inside to the same teller. While winking and smiling, I asked her if the money would be available on Monday. She asked why I wanted the money. Was I buying a car or doing renoes or what? I answered ‘yes’ to everything suggested as she wrote a message telling me to return at 3 to report the fraud. She then clearly stated that she could not give me that amount of money without an invoice for what I was purchasing. Trying not to chuckle, I went back to the car and repeated the teller’s comments (which he obviously had already heard), adding I would need to fill out forms provided online by the bank. I asked, “Why withdraw cash when I could get a bank-draft that could be deposited elsewhere?” The ‘voice’ barked that to be truly safe, I needed to buy bank cards at locations to be provided later. “Bank cards – what are they?” I continued to ask more unwelcomed questions. With very clear exasperation, the voice answered, “I’ll explain later”.
