I think I was scammed. (long, sorry)
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
I don't think you have anything to worry about. Identity theft seems quite common in the US ( a shock for me as I've never known anyone in the UK suffer from it), but I don't think in this case there was a problem. I would ask your bank to change your cards anyway, just for your piece of mind. A pain if you have debits etc. but worth it for your piece of mind. I don't think I read that you gave them any more information than they really already had. If they had all 4 transactions right, they were looking at data that was pretty recent, so either they got hold your bank statement (so they had the information you gave them!) or they got it from your bank (banks job to rectify). You didn't give them your SS number, right?
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
Basically a computer algorithm indicates potential fraud on your account so it triggers an automated call and a series of checks to verify you made the purchases. However, this system fails in the reverse verification. Often calling your bank back they have no record of the call and cannot even locate the employees by employee number. I spent a few weeks tracing it with Wachovia and it was a just a major Charlie Foxtrot but it was legit. Best strategy is to ask for a verifiable number and then call them back before discussing any details.
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Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
I don't think you have anything to worry about. Identity theft seems quite common in the US ( a shock for me as I've never known anyone in the UK suffer from it), but I don't think in this case there was a problem. I would ask your bank to change your cards anyway, just for your piece of mind. A pain if you have debits etc. but worth it for your piece of mind. I don't think I read that you gave them any more information than they really already had. If they had all 4 transactions right, they were looking at data that was pretty recent, so either they got hold your bank statement (so they had the information you gave them!) or they got it from your bank (banks job to rectify). You didn't give them your SS number, right?
I did give them the last 4 digits of my SSN. The weirdness started when the automated voice menu asked for the last 4 digits, I punched them in, they were not recognized, and that's when the human came on the phone (and she also queried my for the last 4 digits). I did not to give out my full SSN (at least I have that much common sense, but no more than that), but I had thought last 4 digits was ok- I have no idea anymore if that's true or not. So you think it sounds legit?
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Basically a computer algorithm indicates potential fraud on your account so it triggers an automated call and a series of checks to verify you made the purchases. However, this system fails in the reverse verification. Often calling your bank back they have no record of the call and cannot even locate the employees by employee number. I spent a few weeks tracing it with Wachovia and it was a just a major Charlie Foxtrot but it was legit. Best strategy is to ask for a verifiable number and then call them back before discussing any details.
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayThanks for that advice. I will definitely handle it that way in the future. Asking for a verifiable number to call back sounds like the way to go. Thank you.
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
As a precaution you should contact the three major credit reporting agencies to have your reports flagged. If any new activity occurs (like someone trying to open an account) they will call you first to verify. After an amount of time when you feel safe you can have it removed.
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
Asking to ring back is always the best way. I opened an account with a bank and they gave me a courtesy call asking me to confirm my security details to which I responded, something like, 'in a blue moon' and asked them if other customers had refused to give their details - they confirmed that a few had. Which implies that a lot of people are willing to give their details to a complete stranger over the phone. Them knowing about your recent transactions does make, what you describe sound kosha to me. Banks really should know better than to ring asking for security details as they are allowing phishers a way in.
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.(Winston Churchill)
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As a precaution you should contact the three major credit reporting agencies to have your reports flagged. If any new activity occurs (like someone trying to open an account) they will call you first to verify. After an amount of time when you feel safe you can have it removed.
Good idea. Thanks.
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Asking to ring back is always the best way. I opened an account with a bank and they gave me a courtesy call asking me to confirm my security details to which I responded, something like, 'in a blue moon' and asked them if other customers had refused to give their details - they confirmed that a few had. Which implies that a lot of people are willing to give their details to a complete stranger over the phone. Them knowing about your recent transactions does make, what you describe sound kosha to me. Banks really should know better than to ring asking for security details as they are allowing phishers a way in.
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.(Winston Churchill)
Yes, I should not have given out so much information. Especially since I did not know that they had the transaction details until after I spouted information. Stupid stupid stupid of me. I will definitely use the call back method in the future. Thanks.
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
That sort of thing was discussed here before. The concensus was that if they call you, you should verify that they are who they say, not the other way around.
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I don't think you have anything to worry about. Identity theft seems quite common in the US ( a shock for me as I've never known anyone in the UK suffer from it), but I don't think in this case there was a problem. I would ask your bank to change your cards anyway, just for your piece of mind. A pain if you have debits etc. but worth it for your piece of mind. I don't think I read that you gave them any more information than they really already had. If they had all 4 transactions right, they were looking at data that was pretty recent, so either they got hold your bank statement (so they had the information you gave them!) or they got it from your bank (banks job to rectify). You didn't give them your SS number, right?
hammerstein05 wrote:
piece of mind
Nothing my bank can offer me for which I'd give a piece of my mind! ;P
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Yes, I should not have given out so much information. Especially since I did not know that they had the transaction details until after I spouted information. Stupid stupid stupid of me. I will definitely use the call back method in the future. Thanks.
Hi BlueSprite, I am more paranoid and would probably start by cancelling the credit card they called about. Your bank will issue you a new one right away (they want you to be able to spend money). Then as suggested previously you might flag your accounts. The fact that the number was not working and they asked for your address and last 4 of your SS means they needed that (your bank would have that,no?) They may have had a credit card statement (with transactions) and just needed your address and SS number to get started opening new accounts in your name. I would not waste anytime calling the big three and flagging your accounts. I actually bought an identity theft prevention kit. It was like $35 USD for a year. They basically do the fraud protection alerts and the credit companies, monitor your credit and send a monthly report and guarantee you will be protected by giving you a huge insurance (up to a million usd) and offering to make all calls, etc. should anything go wrong. Good Luck, Lisa
Lisa Marie Sidlow
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Before anyone points out how stupid I was, I already realize that I was an idiot. In my defense, I was on my third day of only one or two hours of sleep each night because of really really sick children (including an ER trip etc)... basically, during the phone call I barely had any mind with which to use... To fastforward to the end, I called our bank right after, and the associate believes that I was NOT scammed, but I am going to follow up further tonight, asking more questions and trying to verify that things are ok. Here's the situation: I get a recorded call giving my husband's name and mine, and naming our bank, saying that they wish to verify charges on our credit card. Saying press one if I am this-person-they-name. Then enter last 4 digits of SS. I do so, the phone rejects it and a human comes on the phone. Asks the same questions, I answer (with two babies fussing in the background, but I figured I had to straighten out whatever was going on with our credit card otherwise, I don't know the sky would fall, stupid I know, I know, wasn't thinking clearly at all). She explains that they are verifying charges (which our bank has done before, so I thought it was ok). She asks to verify home address, I do (stupid stupid stupid). Then she lists 4 recent charges. Three I recognize, did not recognize the final one. She says she will block the card until I call back. Gives me a number. Husband comes home. Says that the 4th charge is ok, he made it. I call back, and the number gives me a new number for directory assistance. Sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm almost in tears. I take care of my babies for a bit, my hubby plays with them as I call the bank proper. I explain to them what went on, and at first she says she thinks I've been scammed. Then I give her the number they gave me, and she says it matches the third party company they use to verify charges. She has no idea why the number forwarded me to a new dir assistance number, but everything should be ok. She said that the card was not marked as blocked, but sometimes the third party company puts in an order to the bank to block it, and it doesn't happen immediately. But she made notes of the entire exchange, and says things should be ok. My husband is unsure as am I. He's received calls before that have verified charges, but they have never started off with an automatic voicemail thingie. I just have a bad feeling about the entire exchange. Any advice on how to follow up further on this? I was thinking of calling the bank b
I'd had the bank call me to verify for some transaction. Some are not funny, others scary. It appears since they asked you for the last 4, it may be legit. Just follow up with your bank. reading your description it sounds you are ok. I traveled to UK once and used my card over there. when I came back to US I filled a gas and the next day my bank called me to verify some charges. The first thought that came to my mind was the UK charges since they were overseas charges. Psssst! they flagged the card for the gas purchase in a local gas station. When I asked them about the UK charges they told me I am ok.
Yusuf
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Good idea. Thanks.
Not a problem. I've also stopped giving my phone number at stores when they ask. When I moved I gave it to one store. I started getting calls to sign up for sattelite TV, the brand which I already had. I thought it was maybe an overlap. After several months and tons of phone calls I finally reached the legal department of the company I did business with and they said that 1) I was on their do not call list; and 2) they do not use 3rd party companies to solicit for them. So all these calls were fraudulent. I finally kept recording each number that appeared on my ID and sent them to the company and my state attorney's office. So when a store asks for my phone number I just say, "I don't give that out--I've had fraud happen" and they are very nice about it. Also, don't sign up for promotions or give-aways. They can sell your information to a third party.
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hammerstein05 wrote:
piece of mind
Nothing my bank can offer me for which I'd give a piece of my mind! ;P
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighistpeterchen wrote:
hammerstein05 wrote: piece of mind Nothing my bank can offer me for which I'd give a piece of my mind!
Funny isn't it... especially considering it is from a "native English speaker". Look at post by Ennis below - should it not be "I have gone through this before" or "I went through this before" instead of "I have went through this before"?? And everybody waits to pounce on the language by some poor unsuspecting non-native English speaker - where are they now?? speak about bias ;P
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peterchen wrote:
hammerstein05 wrote: piece of mind Nothing my bank can offer me for which I'd give a piece of my mind!
Funny isn't it... especially considering it is from a "native English speaker". Look at post by Ennis below - should it not be "I have gone through this before" or "I went through this before" instead of "I have went through this before"?? And everybody waits to pounce on the language by some poor unsuspecting non-native English speaker - where are they now?? speak about bias ;P
Interestingly, after years of practice where I couldn't understand how that can happen to a native speaker, I am starting to make the same mistake - writing the wrong words that sound the same.
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist