I've been called twice this month by people saying they're from BBVA, telling me they've detected strange activity in my account. They're asking me to confirm my details over the phone. Is this legitimate or is it a scam? What exactly should I do to avoid making a mistake?
The most effective thing is to hang up and call your bank directly using the official number on your card or on the BBVA website, without using any number the caller gave you. That way you can verify if there's actually something weird going on with your account. One thing a lot of people don't do is write down the time and the number the call came from (it shows up on your phone) and report it afterward to the National Police through their online complaint portal or the AlertCops app, because these scammers usually target several customers at once and the more complaints there are, the easier you make it for the cops to track them down. Also, if your bank has an app, check it directly to see if there are actually any suspicious transactions; if there's nothing, you'll know it was all just a story.
Something similar happened to me a while back, and honestly, legitimate banks never ask for sensitive information over the phone, so what they're telling you is pure scam. What you need to do is hang up, don't give out any information, and then call the number on your card or on the bank's official website to ask if there's anything unusual on your account.
Never, and I mean never, confirm any data over the phone no matter how convincing the person on the other end sounds! Real BBVA will never ask you for your password, card number, or security code over a call, so if they're asking for it that's 100% a scam.
What most people don't mention is that these scammers sometimes clone the bank's number so it shows up on your screen, so even if you see the "official" BBVA number, it means nothing. Your best move is to hang up, wait a bit, and call the number yourself from the back of your card or from the bank's official website. That way you talk to real people and can verify if anything weird is going on with your account!
The best defense is not to say anything during the call and verify things yourself afterward. If the bank calls alerting you to suspicious activity, the first thing is don't give out your full name, password, security codes, or card number. Period. Scammers are very convincing because they spoof phone numbers well, but that doesn't mean they're real.
What actually works is hanging up and calling the number yourself that's on your credit card or on BBVA's official website (type it into Google directly, without using any number someone gave you). Ask at that moment if there's anything suspicious on your account. That way you know 100% if it was legitimate. If your bank didn't find anything weird, you've got your answer: it was a scam. Watch out for an important detail I haven't seen mentioned: if you suddenly hang up the call, a lot of scammers will call back pretending the line got cut. Don't fall for it. A legitimate bank call will never push that hard.
Also, turn on alerts at your bank if you don't have them (SMS notifications or app alerts for any activity), and think about changing your password if it's been a while. With these two things together you cut down the risk way more.
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