And so I asked the man to wait while I got my wallet and found the card. When I got back on the line, the voice requested that I give him the card numbers. At this point, I became cautious. He had, after all, given them to me. And so, I asked him to repeat the numbers while I tracked them on the card. No, he responded. I should give them to him. I was pretty sure that I was smelling a rat by this time and so I told him that since he had given them to me once, it should not be a problem to do it again. The bank rules prevented it, he said. Not credible. I hung up and, to be sure, I decided to call the bank and check.
I looked up what purported to be a number for our local bank and called it. What I got was the main phone complex for the whole bank, with mindboggling option choices. I chose credit cards and had to sit on hold for almost half an hour. By this time I was annoyed enough to put the call on speakerphone and do my jobs with one hand while I waited. When I got a rep, I told my story and was assured that the call I was reporting was a scam and that I had done the right thing to report it.
Two takeaways from this. One is that this scam is
pretty catchy; the bank rep was glad to be told the details. The second is that
the bank’s phone policy is extremely annoying, even though the music piped
during the hold is broken by recorded assurances about call importance and
requests to stay on the line. It should be possible to call the local branch
without being redirected to the main number and put on hold. If the redirection
is, in fact, necessary, the bank should have enough people on the main complex
to prevent long waits. Not to mention using better music.
Sorry about this! I hate scammers. I got a cabinet refacing last month but you wouldn't believe the scammers that tried calling me this month. I'm grateful for trustworthy people.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a phish.
DeleteGood catch. I would have been suspicious too. We get similar calls all the time. I have a phone number now for the local bank. There are some questions they will answer but most of the time we get referred to the waiting line nationally,
ReplyDeleteIt is just really annoying to be on hold when the question is a simple one.
DeleteGood catch!
ReplyDeleteGood catch. We tend not to answer any unknown calls, figuring they'll leave a message if it's genuine. Have a good weekend. It feels like it should be a special weekend here too, just as down south.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good plan. But I have this thing about answering the telephone. Silly, because the possibility of an emergency call was over when my daughters became adult and my parents died.
DeletePretty wet, so far.
I'm so glad you didn't fall for this! It's a certainty that many, many others have.
ReplyDeleteThe tangle of phone menus and recordings is beyond irritating and, sadly, everywhere. I'm like another of your Commenters and refuse to answer unknown calls. It works for me.
I guess those of you who are not answering at all have 'call answering' enabled. We don't. Old fashioned land line and we are, um, cheap. I hang up. Politely, sort of.
DeleteKeeps you on your toes, figuring all this stuff out.
Good for you in notifying the bank, but honestly I would have hung up on this caller without a second thought. I have blocked several numbers and text messages and reported them as well. It's always good to be alert for these scammers.
ReplyDeleteI figure that if you notify, the organization being misrepresented may be able to do something. As a consumer, report is all that is possible.
ReplyDeleteFiguring all of this out is such a joy.