Identity Fraudsters on the Phone

iguana

So I’m exactly 2 weeks in London, sitting in my apartment having once again concluded that there is nothing on tv and about to start the washing up, when I get a phone call – private number. It’s a guy with an Australian accent saying he’s from Vodafone and they need to check a couple of my details. I’ve been half expecting this – when I signed my contract the week before the guy put in my Irish bank account details in for the direct debit and I wasn’t sure if it would work and I thought I might have to change it to the UK account I had just opened on Monday.

The guy asks me the usual security questions, name, address, dob & to confirm my mobile number. I’m getting a bit irritated – thinking he phoned me, must he really ask all this – but in the meantime I was checking through my paperwork folder to get my new bank details so not concentrating too much. Suddenly I think this is suspicious, this may well be on the level but I don’t want to give bank details to someone who phoned me. I decide to hang up and call Vodafone straight back.

It takes several failed calls to even get into the queue for an operator, the avr system is so much worse than anything I’ve encountered at home. After getting through to someone it still takes nearly half an hour to find someone who can help me. They manage to confirm the call I got was not from Vodafone and I need to call the police.

Writing everything down now I call them, make a report over the phone and they say they will investigate and get back to me. I tell them which details I gave the guy my name, address, dob and mobile number and we conclude the only thing that they can effect is my mobile account. So I decide to call back Vodafone and see about putting a password on my account.

When I get through to someone there the guy starts asking me security questions, he asks my landline number, and it had been changed. He couldn’t tell me when this had happened but I think it has to be due to the call I received earlier. I put a password on the account so it should be ok now.


So just a word of warning to everyone to be careful about who you give your details to. I wouldn’t give any bank details to anyone who calls you. I used to work for a collection agency so I know that these calls can be on the level but even so it isn’t worth the risk. If someone calls you and starts asking for your details, tell them you will call them back and only call them through a number you are familiar with.

Sparky

I remember getting a call at half 2 one morning firstly she asked who she is talking to then clamed to be in BOI 24hr cc hotline stating that charges of 600 euros have been charged to my cc and that it was in a resturant in italy, so i nearly sh1t myself because i wasnt in italy a day previously, so then she asked was i in italy and i said no i wasnt,

Then when did you make your last transaction mr (my second name), and i said in nutgrove SC

Im sorry mr (SN) you will have to spell that for me.

So at this stage i asked how did you allow a charge of €600 on my CC when my limit is €750 and i have around €200 on it leaving me with €550 credit.

Your card doesent show up as a €750 credit limit, its €4000

So then i went ape sh1t to the person saying you are full of crap, you F'ing idiot, FFS i made sure that my limit was at 750 and i even have a statement from 2 weeks ago telling me my credit limit.
Who the **** are you, were you trying to pull a fast one and get my CC number so that you can charge 600 euros to my card is that it, well even if you did you would only get 550, your a sh1t liar and if you wanna fraud someone atleast get your facts right, you ****ing idiot.
At this stage i was angry and shocked it could happen to me.
SO then she said im sorry for wasting your time and that i should expect a letter from our HQ about my attitude towards a CS rep.

So i asked myself if it was a genuine call, so i decided to get the card and ring the 24hr CS number, and got through to a woman who sounded oldish and told her the details, so then she told me information that there was'nt a charge on the card at all and that as a safety measure that i should distroy my current card and she will apply for a new cc account number and my current outstanding charges will be transferred, so i could now sleep after 20 mins of a shock
So things like this can happen to anyone, and that the person was either trying to get a CC number for fraudilent use and/or for identity theft.
Its effen shocking.

JackKelly

you should ask them if you can ring them back instead.

AARRRGH

You don't need technical skills to be a hacker, just ask for the password!

...

You've probably seen this one -

People post a topic asking what is your porno name (or some ****.) It is your pets name and your mothers maiden name.

Guess what two details are usually given as security questions? Yup, your pets name and your mothers maiden name...

Simple eh?

de5p0i1er

My boss had his credit card stolen from his office and then the guy who stole it rang him claiming to be from the bank and got his pin number of him and took a load of money out of his account up in Galway. They caught him on CCTV and the rest was left to the cops.

Lord Nikon

There's one thing here we should all remember. Banks know our details, all of 'em, they will never ask for details.

Hobbes

dublindude wrote:

Guess what two details are usually given as security questions? Yup, your pets name and your mothers maiden name...

Actually that happened in an MMORPG I was playing. Nearly A whole clan got their accounts hacked. They claimed there was a hacker who took out the servers, but it turned out that the muppets were sent to a site which was exactly like you said.

The hacker then just accessed their hotmail accounts (got the addresses from the clan website) pretending they had lost the password and got in and then told the Neocron servers it had lost its password and it sent an email to the hotmail account.

Which is why you never ever put valid information for those questions, just something you can remember.

Scarinae

dublindude wrote:

You've probably seen this one -

People post a topic asking what is your porno name (or some ****.) It is your pets name and your mothers maiden name.

Guess what two details are usually given as security questions? Yup, your pets name and your mothers maiden name...

Simple eh?

I never realised that was why they did it... Luckily I never use either of those as my security question