PSA: Fraud Alert
Remember the good old days when you would get a scam email, and it would be chuck full of grammatical errors and typos? I used to laugh when that happened, then later wondered if they did this specifically to weed out those who have sharp eyes and minds. People with sharp eyes not only aren’t prone to falling for those types of scams, they might report those attempts to the FBI, BBB, phishing departments of companies, etc.
Boy are we in a different place. So here is today’s PSA. Clearly, someone stole my card information, but what unfolded in these last couple hours was more sophisticated than anything I’ve seen. Someone did a fraudulent charge to our checking account, it showed up as a Costco transaction in AZ when we live in NJ. Everything else was fine.
I get a call supposedly from the bank, professional sounding, saying this call will be recorded for training purposes (they’ve mimicked everything perfectly). I said how do I know this is Chase? They said this is the number on the back of your card (true). They then alert me to the fraudulent charge with specific details (true), then piggyback on that true information with a series of shock and awe revelations that are false: that someone attempted to open a second checking account, that 3 huge wire transfers were attempted from savings, etc.
So of course, by now I’m panicking, and let’s face it, during an adrenaline rush thanks to evolution of survival skills, most rational thought is jettisoned in favor of a skeleton crew of capabilities critical to ensuring survival. I was texting with Frank, who said this sounds suspicious. We’re all told: don’t divulge any information, that the bank wouldn’t call and then ask for SSN, passwords, etc.
So this is how they’re attempting to get around that now. They said because of all this, the accounts were frozen on their end and what they needed was for me to transfer from savings to checking so they could start clean with a new savings. I admit, until then, it had somewhat sounded like the bank. Luckily, this finally triggered warning bells.
They suggested I could go into a branch, probably to try and build trust so they could continue the scam over the phone, and instead I called their bluff and went in to a local branch. And sure enough, while the bank definitely opened a case on the fraudulent Costco transaction in AZ, they said there were no indications that someone tried to open a second checking account, wire transfer from savings, etc. The scammers just wanted me to transfer money from savings to checking. Couple things:
Since they were able to scam using card information likely skimmed, they could try for a larger amount
Any attempt at a large wire, the bank will call and ask for verification. Which a victim doing the transfer has a high probability of verifying, because they were just talking to the “bank” who told them to do the transfer! It gets approved, the money goes out and buh bye.
Here’s something even more alarming. I know someone who doesn’t even have bank cards, who only does business at a branch, and small, unauthorized transactions showed up in a checking account. How that happens is beyond me.
Bottom line, if ever in doubt, just walk into your local branch, certainly don’t agree to do any sort of monetary transaction over the phone. This now goes beyond just divulging sensitive information over the phone. And the good news is, getting new replacement cards is always a good time to check those recurring and automatic payment transactions.
Another addition: if anyone calls about unauthorized purchases and says they only refund via computer using ultraview.com, this is a scam, hang up.