new phishing scam

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Sep 2011 Posts: 39

Krystle Kacner Multimedia Journalist

Thieves are using telephones to steal your credit card information.

A new scam is making the rounds, and thousands of Iowans are targets.

Don't be surprised if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Wells Fargo and asking you for your bank account numbers.
The automated call claims it can prevent your credit card from being frozen.

But it's all a lie.

“I got a recorded message that my ATM card was deactivated and if I want to reinstate it push one. They asked for my name, bank account number, which of course at that point I hung up the phone,” said Daniel Reinders.

But when Daniel Reinders called the number back, he says it was a personal phone that he believes must have been hijacked.

Dozens of people share a similar story. The call claims to be from Wells Fargo. The automated voice requests a lot of personal information, including their credit card number, something the real Wells Fargo would never do.

“We think that they are most likely calling these numbers at random. And we also think the number that shows up on the caller id is a spoof number. In other words they're making up a number. That's not really where the call is coming from,” said Geoff Greenwood, from the Attorney General’s office.

Geoff Greenwood says he’s received two of these calls, both from different numbers. He says you don't have to be a Wells Fargo customer to get the call. He says at this point there's no way to tell where it’s coming from.

“There’s not a lot we can do until we know who’s doing it and why and there's a question of if we have jurisdiction. We don’t know again if this is coming from within Iowa, out of Iowa, if it’s coming from out of the country. We just don’t know at this point,” said Greenwood.

And until then, there’s really no way to prevent anyone from being a target.

So, in the meantime, don't say anything and hang-up.

“We're afraid there may be some people out there, particularly older Iowans, we're afraid they may give away their credit card number and that has us concerned,” said Greenwood.

Local cell phone providers say you can call them or use their websites to block specific numbers; however this scam has many different numbers it operates from.

Copyright © 2011, WHO-TV

More information on this. The scammers are using an auto dialer and are spoofing the call back numbers.

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 8:26 pm

Source: http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-credit-card-scam-100611,0,5602722.story