Has Anyone Recently Been Targeted With A Bank Scheme ?

Question

Yesterday, there was a message on our phone for my son, and he also rec'd the message on his cell phone. They claimed to from U.S. Bank (where he does have an acct.) and wanted some financial information and left a phone number. He called but did not give them any info. He then called his "real" bank and no one from there had called him. Had to be a scam. Watch out for this one.

Answer 1

Some people are unbelievable, glad you didn't fall for it.

Answer 2

Wait to you hear from the folks that want to do you a favor by putting a huge sum of money in your account, or you wake up one day and discover you are the long lost "American realtive
of a recently deceased extremely wealthy person, or you get a check in the mail for 16,000 bucks as soon as you put it in your account to claim it for a "small fee" the list goes on and on, and they are really hot this time of the year.

Right here on the net too,they have basically stopped the old fashioned get rich schemes, and come up with stuff like you have been randomly selected by computer to receive this prize, or large som of money, with "no strings attached, just fill in all your banking information "so they can rapidly send this straight to your account,or how about this one, They have hit the lotto, and the money is waiting in a off shore bank, but if you will help them by putting it in your account it would help them get around the IRS and taxes, therefore they will be so grateful they will cut you in for a percentage of their winnings,
usually thousands of dollars if not half a million or some other dribble!

These people buy list like if you order something over the phone or on line, just to get enough information on you to run their con! I have 2 or 3 E-mails now from some of these folks!
Sometimes I E-mail them back and tell them what a wonderful deal I have for them if they would be intrested in buying some swamp land I am developing for a large coporation,(namely me) SMILE!

So BEWARE--------IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE---------YOU KNOW THE REST!!!!

Answer 3

Yes, it is definitely a SCAM. A bank will never ever call anyone on the phone asking for info. It's a good thing your son called his bank so now they're aware of a scam. Something recently happened at my bank & security issues have been beefed up, especially when accessing a peron's account online. People should never ever give out sensitive info about yourself, including your SS#. So many people fall victim to such scams & end up losing their life savings because they were so trusting. What a shame.

*Scooter....Be careful when calling the bank. If you use a landline, via a cordless phone, your conversation can be picked up via police scanners, baby monitors, etc.

Answer 4

Not me, but my mom in law has. One of the first things you want to remember, is never call the number they leave. First thing you know, you can get a phone bill for a call from somewhere in bum-f***ed Egypt, as the old saying goes, for a long distance call that can mount up to hundreds of dollars. That is part of some of those schemes. and NEVER NEVER NEVER give anybody any information over the phone, of any kind if you don't initiate the call. Those people are scary out there, same thing about things on the net--they can get your IP thru your url, and first thing you know they have all the info about your private life, where you live, every credit card you have, your banking information, etc and they will be knocking on your door with their scams. Sometimes it is years before their damage can be straightened out. I love the computer age but sometimes it scares the hell out of me.

Answer 5

I will continue to say this again and again:

Do NOT give out any personal information to anyone over the phone. Just because they say they are so and so does not make it so. I could say I am the President of the US. (I don't think so). P.S.I used to work with this guy, and when he was trying to get ahold of someone and could not get an answer. Used to leave a message saying: I am Doctor SO & So, I need you to call me right away.

If they are truly serious tell them to send you something in the mail, but do not give them your address even. If it is true they w ould already have it.

Answer 6

I work at a very friendly bank and we call our customers all the time when they are overdrawn. Then they won't get charged a fee if they can come up with the cash by 10 or 11am. Most people don't overdraw their accounts on purpose, so a friendly phone call is welcome.

BUT.......... If someone calls and asks you for information about you or your account, don't give it out. The best thing to do is get to know your local banker and if some one that you do not know calls, tell them that you will call them back and call your Bank Manager to see if this person is on the up and up. I call Kitty because she knows ALL !!

GOOD luck

Answer 7

i have never come across the scheme you mention, but i HAVE had 2 others in my e-mail. one is money laundering. someone pretending to be a foreign dignatary pretends that he is down on his luck, and if you would just send him [whatever] he will pay you 10% of the huge amount of money he will make off the "investment" your money will go towards, etc. Actually, all that happens is the guy gets clean American money for his crappy foreign money -- money that really doesn't -- the "investment" is his pocket.

the second scam is an annoucement that you've won a lottery!!!this scam is very sly.they even went so far as to send me an actual check via snail mail... i researched it, and although the bank name was very generalized, it WAS real. the check itself had a watermark. apparently i had won over 250thousand bucks! NOT! I had never even entered the dumb lotto to start with! i guess the trick is the amount of money you supposedly "win"... senior citizens are especially vulnerable to this scheme, because it appeals to them having more money for retirement. it takes away some of the stress of living on a fixed income... well... if you fall for this scheme, you may lose everything... basically, if something seems to good to be true, it's pobably a scam.

also -- this isn't a scam, but can ruin your PC-- don't open any e-mail that says "re:" in the subject line if you never sent that person an e-mail to start with. "Re:" means responding to an e-mail YOU sent them. Even if the name on the mail is someone you know -- don't open it. a fake e-mail like this downloads your entire address book, and sends itself to all the people IN your book, PLUS all the people in THEIR address books. it's a worm or virus that feeds on itself, getting bigger and bigger. if you suspect its a fake mail, SEND that person an original mail asking did they send it. i've had 3 fake e-mails so far. stay alert with yours.

Answer 8

We get calls from a company saying our insurance for our satellite box is ready for renewal and to give details etc over the phone so they can get it sorted! Not likely! We always phone the real company straight after to let them know that there are scammers out again. We have to be really careful in the UK coz there have been Government discs gone missing and other discs that deal with Child Benefit have gone missing too. So every woman in the UK who gets Child Benefit is at risk of someone knowing their details because of this blunder. We got a letter saying my details were on one of the discs and to keep an eye on bank statements and to inform them if there are any problems. We are all at risk in the UK....blooming Government.....fancy sending important documents by ordinary mail and not special courier! This problem with the security breach might carry on for years and millions of famillies could be affected. If someone got our bank details they'd feel sorry for us coz we've not got a lot in our bank....just enough each week to tide us over til the next week but that's not the only problem with scammers getting your details...they could take over your identity and goodness knows what trouble that would cause.
General rule is to not give your details out over the phone even if you think it's genuine. You never know and if you get stung it could ruin you.
Note to the answerer who said banks don't phone customers....they do in the UK when they want to organise a meeting to go over your account to see if they can "help" in any way. This usually means they want more of your money off you but is disguised in so called help.

Answer 9

There tends to be a lot of email scams where it looks like an official one from a bank but then asks for personal details. DO NOT answer them but just delete them. They can be a worry!

Answer 10

Uninstall maleaware bytes Uninstall super anti spyware Off-load all your pics, vids, & music to dvds and cds. Uninstall all those free web browser add-ons Uninstall all the extraneous programs you got for free like Limewire & such Delete all your temporary internet files & cookies Edit your startup files and delete what you don't need Run disk cleanup Download Avira Anti-virus Download Spybot Search & Destroy Download Ad-Aware SE personal Download ZoneAlarm personal edition free firewall Reboot and uninstall all your anit-virus stuff, all your spyware stuff, and all your malware stuff. De-activate your Windows Firewall, install ZoneAlarm Reboot , then install Avira, Spybot, and Ad-Aware. Update and scan your computer one at a time. Run disk cleanup again Run disk defrag. Good Luck

Answer 11

Not over the phone, but I get emails. I just delete. There is an awful lot of spamming and scamming going on. I delete everything.