Fraud alert (OT)

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Ed in Arizona

>Bob Is right, I have heard of similar scam going around....NEVER give any BANK, SS#, numbers over the phone you can always call your bank direct (banks bill not ask for this info either)

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Why not avoid all this, go to www.donotcall.org, input your phone number(s), take away all their fun.

Pam

Cell phones and do not call list

John, NY

>Don't forget to go again if you have a cell phone and register that too since your number is going to be wide open for marketing calls real soon and you may be paying for that/those incoming calls...

Re: Cell phones and do not call list

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Thanks, John, I put the cell phones on the list at the same time as the land lines. Figured it probably wouldn't hurt anything.

Pam

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Ed in Arizona

>Well they are criminals and dont access THAT list

I agree too...joined that list when it started

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Bob Hackett

>The scary part is that they knew what bank I use and had the routing number and were working from a bank list as they called me then my daughter then my son all at the same number but different people making the calls.The accents were all the same,even the background voices.

Seems as though the telecommunications technology and training we are shipping offshore has opened up more employment opportunities than we planned and not all of it legal.

What do you figure the odds are of prosecuting scam artists and hackers working overseas?

Mainely,Bob-Wondering how many unsuspecting US citizens these folks take down every day.

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Good points all, Bob; however, they may not be as on target as they sounded. They could be taking a guess on your bank, happens all the time with spam, playing the odds. You wouldn't believe how much spam I get asking to verify my Citibank Visa card, which I don't have. The routing code isn't secret, it's a given once you know a bank, assigned by the ABA I think.

Pam

Cell phones can't be called and that's not changin *LINK*

Dave Louw, Bellevue, WA

>There is a lot of misinformation in the news recently that erroneously says your cell phone will soon become fair game for telemarketers. It's bogus information. It is currently and will continue to be illegal for telemarketers to call you on your cell phone. Putting yourself on the do-not-call registy won't make a difference because con-artists won't respect the list anyway and telemarketers already filter out cell phone prefixes when they do their computer dialing.

This correction has been printed in many places but see the attached link for additional details.

Dave.


http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/1140117.html

Just Hang Up!

Bater Kari

>Hi Bob,

When I get these types of calls, I just hang up on them! I would get caller ID, except they might have caller ID blocker, making that feature useless!

Re: Just Hang Up!

Bob Hackett

>If you just hang up then they move to the next person on the list and perhaps my neighbor or someone I know becomes thier next victim.They were working from a list of customers at my small hometown bank.

I pumped the first guy for all the info I could and then gave that info both to my bank and to local and federal law enforcement.When I asked the follow on callers if they were with the Government Grant Information Guide they immediately terminated the call.

My caller ID only showed out of state caller so they had a blocker in place.The first caller did give me an address in FLA though.

The feds thanked me and said the organization name was new to the area and unfortunately the offshore scams were not.

Awhile back I remember someone warning about some con artists who were contacting folks from the classifieds right here at WC.

Sad to think that nowhere`s safe anymore.

Mainely,Bob

The bank...I dont quite understand...

CONGER - the Irish diaspora in Munich

>... Bob, surely your bank is responsible. It would appear to me as if they have a security problem (time to change bank?)... or a diecretion problem.

Have you no laws against this? Or are they just not being enforced?

-g-

Re: caller ID

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>We have caller ID, and it is the greatest invention since the hand plane. If it is a telemarketer the ID will read "out of area" and we don't answer. If it happens to be someone who actually wants to talk to us and the ID reads "out of area" and we don't answer, they can leave a message and we get right back to them. 99.9% of the time, a telemarketing call will read "out of area" and a real call will register an ID.

Re: The bank...I dont quite understand...

Dave Anderson Chester,NH

>Not really Conger. The routing number is, as Pam said, a publicly known number assigned by the ABA and is the same for all customer of that bank. It is what allows checks and electronic transfers to move thru the Federal Reserve system and is in effect, the lubricant which keeps money moving. Similar systems are used worldwide and I could take a guess at your routing number in Munich and have a 10% chance of being right if there were only 10 banks in Munich. It's strictly a numbers game for the scammers.

Re: The bank...I dont quite understand...

Eric Cooper

>They could also be mining lists of mortgage holders. Mortgage information is considered public information (at least here in Missouri) and it is a very simple process to determine what institution is holding a mortgage and in what amount. Since most(?) people tend to borrow where they deposit, this would make the scam easier.

Eric

Columbia, Missouri

Re: Just Hang Up!

Bater Kari

>Hi Bob,

Well, ain't technology just grand! You can't win for lose with these offshore hoodlums.

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>The holiday thieves are busy. I just got a call from American Express asking whether I had tried to make a purchase of $600 worth of clothing at The Gap. Once I had successfully conveyed to the caller that he would have to pay me to go in a Gap, we figured out that someone had actually cloned my card, as the attempted purchase was made with a card that was swiped through the reader.

I can not figure out how this was done, but they are sending me a new card with a new number.

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>The thieves have these little hand held thin scanners that fit in pockets and the like. The thief needs only pass your card's magnetic strip over one of these, say as a waiter takes your card to the counter to pay your bill, to make a magnetic copy.

You've got to watch very carefully in restaurants and stores.

Pam

Thanks,Pam.

Bob Hackett

>

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>Wow. Is there a sort of thieves eBay where one goes to buy such a gadget? I guess one has to have a card making machine, too.

Thanks, Pam.

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Somebody in the chain sure needs one. I suspect the scanner itself comes with the job.

I suppose Joe will object, but if we paid waiters and sales clerks better.....

Pam

Re: Fraud alert (OT)

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Ahhhh. No political content! And with two offspring currently employed as waiters,I heartily agree with your statement.JR(not that either one would clone a customers card anyway)