They transfer money to you and ask you to return it: alert for the new triangular scam that can put you in a crime

The account of the Buenos Aires Minister of Security, Javier Alonso released a video (starring a police officer) warning about this mechanism and indicating how to act to avoid being involved.

“You received a transfer of five hundred lucas and they ask you to return it? It’s not a mistake, it’s a triangular scam“, points out the agent in the recording. How does it work? The criminal tricks a person into sending money, but makes it reach the account of a third party (the victim), to whom then press to transfer it to another account.

“The money comes to you, but it is not yours. Then you are urged to send it to another CBU. If you do, uses you to launder money”, he adds.

He critical point It’s that second step. If the person receiving the transfer agrees to resend it on their own, is in the middle of the maneuver. Therefore, the official recommendation is not to return the money directly: “Contact your bank and request the official reversal”.

In dialogue with Clarionthe independent malware analyst Agustín Merlo He explained that this type of scam “is increasingly common” for one central reason: it relies on a situation that may seem legitimate. The person receiving the money “would be manipulating money that was not theirs,” which can generate enough trust to execute the transfer without suspicion.

Unlike other maneuvers, such as “uncle’s story”where the deception requires persuading the victim for several minutes until they hand over sensitive data, the triangular scam reduces that margin of doubt.

“The pinnacle of other scams is that the victim voluntarily gives credentials or even the bank token, which is very suspicious and can bring down the criminal’s entire operation,” said Merlo. In this case, however, the operation “it is faster, simpler and more random”as scammers can target randomly generated aliases, which are not difficult to guess.

The risks for those who forward the money are concrete. According to the specialist, the person should not “use the money they received or transfer it, either to the issuer, to third-party accounts or to their own accounts.” If you do, may become involved in crimes such as fraud, money laundering or misappropriation.

Furthermore, criminals often play with urgency. The claim to return the money usually comes with pressure or insistencewhich pushes to act without verifying. Faced with that, Merlo recommends don’t give in to the rush: the correct way to proceed is report the situation to the financial institution through official channels.

“Following the formal procedure His good faith and willingness to clarify the fact would be documented,” he explained.

Regarding the warning signs, the criteria is broad: Any transfer coming from an unknown source should be considered suspicious. In these cases, banks have specific protocols and it is key to report the situation as soon as possible, ideally within 48 hours.

The step by step in a situation like this is clear: do not use the money, do not forward it at your own expense, do not respond under pressure and contact the bank to manage the reversal. The official warning summarizes the risk in one sentence: “If the money goes through you, you will be left in the middle.”