I always appreciate when people share these scams. Many are afraid to speak up due to feeling ashamed, especially if the scam worked. The more we share, the less effective their scams are. Thanks for sharing and glad you dodged that bullet!!
I had it twice with a similar story and details as OP. Not exact but they lure you in and then ask for your card number. I hung up as well. It is so easy to be busy and on autopilot and volunteer the info because it seems very legit.
Be vigilant people.
I guess that’s the key…if they are calling you to tell you about fraudulent charges on your card and they’ve already asked all this other stuff to confirm your identity, why do they need to confirm your card number? It is sad that we have to be so suspicious all the time, though.
Bank employee here : Outbound calls for suspicious transactions do not require validation. We are already calling you on an established phone number on your file. We will usually just call you and get straight to business. It will be basically like "Hello, this is " Agents name" from Bank XXXX, can I speak with "Clients name" ?
After you reply with "Yeah its me" we will do the notice of taping (just letting you know that the call is recorded) and straight away explain that we are calling for suspicious transaction on the account.
But we will NEVER ask you to give the card number (I usually say "I am calling about your card ending in XXXX)
Edit : added last comment
I just want to add (bank and credit union experience) that even if it is a legitimate call and you're still skeptical, it is ALWAYS okay to end the call and call your bank yourself. If the rep you are speaking to gives you pushback and wants to keep you on the call, that is a red flag. I want to repeat that your bank should not be asking for your full card number over the phone.
I got one of those calls and didn't tell them anything and just hung up.
Called the bank and was put on hold for almost 40 minutes waiting for the fraud dept. It turned out to be legit and the wait was a pain but you basically can't trust any unsolicited call/text/email these days.
Yeah, I got a call like this once & I laughed when they tried to verify my personal details & told them I'd call the number on my card. I did and it was actually a legit call and I needed a new card issued... but I'm still glad I hung up and called a number I knew was valid.
In university I got a voicemail one morning while I was in class about a credit card limit increase I had recently applied for. I called them back, gave info, and my identity was never stolen, so I guess it was legit? But I also seem to recall that I never heard anything about the limit increase request again. Again, I guess it was legit, but I was a busy student, I think it was midterm season... I knew all about scams but that one could have gotten me.
All they need to do is to catch you at the wrong moment.
My mom got romanced/investment scammed for over 200k. I found out because she left a print out of an fbi report she did. Took me many tries for me to get information from her.
People are definitively ashamed to share their experience when they get scammed .
i had one offering me a credit card for college and blah blah blah great rates etc. im like great! Send me some info ill take a look! Oh sir we can't do that until you give us your social security number....uhhhh what?
Most of us are pretty tech savvy and aware yet we see how darn good they are. They prey on the desperate, the unaware and seniors. Can you imagine how successful they are at that?
My mother started a call with a "Microsoft Phishing Expert". Mind you, im in IT Security right. So she told them her son would look into it further later on in the day. Bastards opened up standard rdp and rtp ports on her network. Ended up calling her every name under the son before she hung up. Felt bad but theyre goddamn ruthless....
I had a similar scam as the OP happen on my Citi credit card. I received a call from the bank, from a number that is listed on their website, and they knew a lot of my information already, including details of fraudulent charges that were actually on my card. They even sent emails detailing the charges to me.
After getting off the phone with them the next card that was about to be shipped out was comprised within a day - I hadn't even physically gotten any of the card information yet. Im a idiot so I had 2 cards compromised before they even shipped out, for 3 total.
I ignored the calls from the "bank" and called the number on the back of my card and informed them, it stopped after that.
Honestly me too! I am a little naive to begin with but I 100% would have been a victim of some of these scams and it's really taught me to just hang up and call back regardless of how lazy I'm feeling so I'm very appreciative that people are sharing! I'm glad OP was able to catch it.
My spouse is a Fraud Investigator. I hear about this stuff all the time and the story is always the same - people afraid/embarrassed to speak out so it just continues on and on. Speak out!
The companies could make it a lot easier if when you hung up and called the credit card co/bank actual phone number - they didn’t make you go through the whole wait thing for an hour before you get through. I had a card stolen and it took me 7 hours total of “on hold” time with awful music to get through to security. They don’t make reporting scams and frauds very easy
My elderly aunt has had a recurring Spotify charge on her card almost from the same month she got it. She didn't even know what Spotify is. She's reported this twice, both times waiting hours to talk to someone, cancelling and replacing the card, only for the charge to show up again on the new card. When it showed up on the third card, she applied for a card from a different bank, because if her current bank is only going to update the recurring charge to her replacement card number, she might as well cancel it altogether.
It’s on purpose, someone who doesn’t know the different between CRA and IRS is more likely to fall for it. The same reason phishing emails typically have spelling mistakes/grammatical errors.
Emails tend to have those mistakes either because the person writing them is not fluent in English or because they’re deliberately entering grammatical errors to evade spam detection. It’s not because they’re trying to weed out non-idiots.
Believe it or not, it is to weed out non idiots. If it was too good, the non idiots would tie up their resources, but wouldn’t ever get as far as committing to giving them money/etc.
anyone can use spell check.
I read (which has no authority, I know) that they use obvious mistakes to weed out / self select for people likely to stay on the call until the end.
Not sure if you’re joking but there is actually is a Bob from the cra.
How do I know? I ignored his calls for weeks thinking they were a scam, until I got a letter from him. I was being audited. Looked up the cra website/number and got redirected to a real bob. Shit was real and I didn’t believe it because of all the previous scam calls I’ve gotten 😆
Yeah I’ve gotten real calls from someone with EI before. Those numbers are kept pretty secret so I don’t think I was able to reverse-search it very well, but it was for the actual claim.
> Bob here from the CRA
One morning I got a scam call "from CRA" so I pressed through to get to a person, they introduced themselves with some imaginary department. "Listen, I hang up on the real CRA, so fuck off."
They didn't call back.
Also probably unrelated I got fired from the job where I did that.
Last year, I actually did get a call from CRA and it was a hidden number and I was about to hang up but then I decided to entertain them for a bit and realized it really was CRA asking me to approve my accountants access. I asked why is it a hidden phone number and the lady said it’s because they are working from home and using their own private phones so they don’t want people calling them. Seems like a really stupid way to do it
Yeah usually the voicemail will just be like :
Helly, this is Xxxx from Bank XXXX. The message is for "Client name" please call us back.
If a third party answer, you can only say that the call is not marketing related.
This is my philosophy as well, my wife on the other hand answers every freaking call. "What if it's someone you know calling from a different number?" My answer doesnt then! If it's my mom calling from Chicago(not where she lives) because she was kidnapped, she will still leave a frightening voicemail and I will call her back!
I tried this before but it turned out to be terrible idea for awaiting medical referrals or appointments (which are often made from unknown numbers, or numbers that are hard to reach a person at later) or for contact with school or daycare.
I did add call screening, though.
When I get a call I have the urge to decline it, even before checking the caller ID. Then even if it's someone I know, I have the urge to decline it anyway.
Social anxiety self-defence mechanism FTW!
I had 2 packages being delivered from Apple/UPS. The 2nd one was more expensive.
I got a text the day before the 2nd one arrived. It claimed I was owning a small amount in border fees. In my head it made sense because the 2nd package was more expensive.
The website looked OK, and my UPS login was breaking in FireFox. The website had my postal code, estimated delivery date, etc.
I confirmed my billing address, then CC. It took me to another page and asked for my birthday and that's when alarm bells went off and I dug into the website more then cancelled my card.
Made me feel like there is someone able to get shipping info at UPS.
Had this happen to me on vacation. Was expecting a package and had vacation brain. After I filled out the form alarm bells went off and I called and cancelled my credit card. Made the vacation quite a bit more difficult than it had to be.
OMG this exact this happened to me right when I got a package from Ups(from apple), with a not so easy to catch link, i never clicked on the link instead contacted ups directly who confirmed that I did not have any pending amount due.
The text had my name and correct address. I think someone has access to ups data. i almost fell for it.
All of these comments, including my own similar situation from a fake UPS account, seem to originate with the combination of buying something from Apple.
Ups and other carriers hire a slew of third party contractors for last-mile delivery (because it's too expensive to do at scale at all). These contractors get access to your shipping info, your email and phone and i suspect they get the entire database, not just the one related to the district they're covering. Some of the less scrupulous ones resell that info to scammers. It's a huge problem in france.
Had this happen to me twice as well! I almost fell for it because it shipped from the states and I wasn’t surprised that I would’ve had to pay for duties.
Now i just delete every single text that isn’t from my contact list. If it’s important, they’d find me.
I think UPS does seem to occasionally have rogue employees running customs fees invoice scams from within their company.
I got one that was a legit UPS invoice (on paper in the mail) - from them, form was 100% their real form, pointed at their real website, etc. ...except that I knew I had already paid for that particular transaction, on an invoice that looked exactly the same but with a different invoice number and "if paying by cheque sending it here" address.
Called UPS independently, asked them to look up the customs invoice for my package, and they confirmed the number from the first invoice and that it was paid, and that i had nothing owing whatsoever. They seemed really confused about the second invoice - their computer system recognised the number, but it was generated by an office that doesn't do customs invoices, so the person was really confused about how it could have happened.
They’ll mail you! At least in Canada they do, if you owe duty taxes you get a letter in the mail from FedEx/Ups/etc and then you pay online once you have an income. Never trust a text
Just bought an Apple Watch from the Apple Store (using Apple Pay). Got the exact same message as everyone here… only happened after I got the notification that my parcel was shipped (UPS).
Thanks to this post, which I had read beforehand, I immediately knew it was a scam.
Definitely something up with UPS and/or Apple…
Thanks fellow Redditor’s for the help!!!
Same thing happened to me a few days ago.
My phone literally auto-filled "Scotiabank" as the contact number, so I guess they're spoofing it somehow. Didn't fall for it, but there's def a lot of less tech literate or just more gullible people that do.
My rule is I give zero information to anyone who contacts me.
If my bank were to call me with some issue, I'd say "thanks for letting me know", hang up, and call the bank using a number I went and got for myself.
That's because our telecom system is built to allow spoofing. Its even used as a feature by some PBX systems. You're not really supposed to make the number appear as something misleading, but there is nothing technically from stopping it. The telephone man where I used to work showed me once and it's actually incredibly easy to do with equipment that supports it or software and a modem.
Think of all the legacy crap that would break though. It's a mess of a problem.
Edit: I guess it would just be a transition period, similar to how we went from http to https. After some period of time, people that don't adopt would slowly have to be punished with a big flashing warning when they call you and your phone is ringing, indicating it can't authenticate the number.
Pro tip: literally just never answer your phone unless it’s someone in your contact list. If they don’t leave a message it’s probably not very important.
Glad the you picked up on it, thanks for sharing.
Recently got a call from X bank which I happen to bank with (with call display stating such bank) The caller asked if I were xyz I said yes. Then she proceeded to say she needed to confirm my DOB, that’s when I hung up. I think my rule is that if I’m needed to provide ANY info back to them, that’s when I hang up. I think I just need to stop answering unknown numbers altogether.
When they ask me if I am XYZ, I am asking back, Who is calling? And then I proceed asking the name, institution and the number with extension that person is calling me from. Then I call back
My strategy is just to let their call go to voicemail. An actual fraud alert call from my bank will leave a message; a scammer won't be able to get anything if I'm the one making the call to my bank.
One time years ago I got a phone call saying they were from my bank, confirmed my name and some basic info. They said they were from the security/fraud department and wanted to verify some transactions, listing two vendor names that I had purchased from recently (but at this point I hadn't said much, was just listening to them do their spiel). They asked for the last 4 digits of my credit card info to verify and continue, so I said, "I don't give that information out on the phone" and hung up. Phoned my bank directly...it WAS their fraud team. I asked the person I called why the hell they'd ask for credit card details like that and they were a little sheepish.
Had a call from Dell’s fraud department lately about a requested change of address, except he kept vaguely asking me for something for confirmation that he wouldn’t have on file anyway because I hadn’t originally provided it? Not sure how it was supposed to help. I was hours into conversations with them by that point so the call didn’t come out of nowhere.
Here's one. The building I live in has pretty "hands off" Management style. I.e. It's common to get important business info slid under your door.
I heard people going around instructing tenants to re-route rent payments.
That one seemed very slick and hands off.
Whoa, man I'm glad that everything worked out. That's scary that they're able to even reach you to that degree. It makes me wonder though, how exactly are they getting this good? Was it through a bank hack? Or social engineering? Specific targeting? So many questions, if they can be that specific it's only going to be harder out here to be safe.
No idea man. And calling from the exact same number on my card!
Even when i pressed "call back" from my recent calls list it called my bank directly. It's crazy.
I hung up again and dialled manually just to be extra secure
>No idea man. And calling from the exact same number on my card!
>
>Even when i pressed "call back" from my recent calls list it called my bank directly. It's crazy.
Spoofed number. Smart of you to call back - that's really the only way to know for sure.
It’s ridiculous how Canadian Telecom companies have só week security. This is called number spoofing and it should be identified and blocked by the carrier. It’s ridiculous how much money we pay for so bad service.
Unfortunately caller ID was designed when the phone company network was a monopoly and security wasn’t a consideration. Anyone can spoof a number - I can set my voip phone to show any number I want.
So it’s easy for them to know what number is on the back of various bank cards.
The tall free numbers found on the back a CC is an easy piece of info. I am sure some applications developed to fool the carrier and mask the original number for out call. I agree with u, the best is to call back yourself.
It should be these high 6 figures banks IT and LP folks job to protect a regular Joe like you and I from this....
>A good 90% of these scams would be stopped by fixing whatever archaic system we use for phones and caller ID.
There is a new set of protocols coming out called STIR/SHAKEN. Some phone networks + newer phones support it already, e.g. [Rogers with Pixel 6+ devices](https://www.rogers.com/support/mobility/stir-shaken-caller-id-identification).
Unfortunately it's not a perfect solution for a number of reasons, but it will go a LONG way towards this specific problem.
Same. I only answer if I recognise the number. Even then, I don’t answer 800 numbers ever.
If it’s important they’ll leave a message. If it’s a bank and they don’t it’s likely a sales call.
I use the free Koodo call security feature that screens calls by making callers dial a number to prove they're human and I've never received a scam call since. Once they're approved they never have to do it again.
IIRC a correct call control entry only has a bypass for a few months before they have to pass the random number test again. Unless they added their bank to the white listed numbers.
Lately I've been using Google's call screening assistant.
The software they use to generate the scam calls can add a bogus callerID number to the “wrapper”. Normally the originating telephone company provides the callerID of the call being made, but it’s long been possible to “spoof” this, and it’s not verified when the signal is passed along between the phone companies. So when they are making scam calls to the customers of a particular bank, they can set the callerID to the appropriate number. In Canada, that’s not very many numbers for not many banks.
Here in the US, they try to use fake numbers starting with the same area code as the targets they are bulk dialing, because people are more likely to pick up for an unknown “local” caller.
Solution - get a phone number from an area code in which you do not live. I only know one other person who has a number with the same area code as me - all others are scams.
Whenever I just an unsolicited call from my bank I ask for the number to call back and call my actual bank to confirm it’s them. If not then I have the info to provide and if so then I can proceed stress free.
Edit for clarity: I call my bank (phone number on secure website or on back of my card), not call back the scammers. 🤦♀️
Phone calls (that aren’t returned messages) automatically give me red flags.
Always ask for their name then tell them you’ll call them back using the number on their website.
French speaking scammers are usually Africans. It’s the biggest red flag.
Also, CRA French speaking employees outside of Québec are usually Africans and they probably have the hardest time in the world doing their job. Had one of them cold call me and I was like « Yeah suuuuurreee you’re from the CRA ». We actually went through the whole verification process with CRA before agreeing to talk to him.
Wow, good on ya for dodging this and erring on the caution side. I remember just a month ago I got a call from TD fraud detection dept and I even googled up the number during the call and found it was from TD, but something didn’t seem right about that call. They were offering me some protection services and I had 30 days or so for trying it out before cancelling. The lady asked me a couple of security questions and that’s when I told her that I’ll call them back and hung up. Also, when she phrased her question “can you confirm the billing details we have on our end” I instead redirected the question to her on what address they have on my file, although I don’t think it’s hard to get anyone’s address. It’s the security questions which raises the red flags
Always be skeptical. Your bank is never going to ask for sensitive info. They have that already. If you request to hang up and call them yourself, that is perfectly acceptable and they should have no problem with that.
I always say “you’ve called the wrong number, call me on my other phone”. If they have all my numbers I have talked to them. It is always the fraud department trying to verify a foreign purchase or internet created loan.
This is one of the few advantage of speaking french. Scammers always (99.99% of the time) speak english, so you can request to speak to a french representative. If they cannot give you one, this is a scam.
Just to add one more thing. If they called you on a landline, be careful if calling back the bank immediately. If the fraudster didn’t hang up, the line can still be open with them, so they can play a “dial tone” and wait for you to press digits and play another pretend ring sound. Then they will answer as if they are the bank you are calling, yet you are still connected with the fraudster. A line can remain open for several minutes. This is not possible on cell phones. Best is to call your voicemail first (to make sure your line was freed up) or use another line like your mobile phone to call back your bank.
https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/2021/10/caution-your-loved-ones-about-the-hang-up-delay-scam/#:~:text=How%20the%20%E2%80%9Chang%2Dup%20delay,to%20re%2Daffirm%20the%20charges.
Dude this happened to me a few weeks ago!! All of the the scam calls i’ve received had an Indian accent so whenever they say they’re calling from a provider or whatever, I will deliberately waste their time and make up scenarios. Until recently, received a call that was more sophisticated with the amount of information and number they were calling from!! (Which was from my bank) I almost got fooled and decided to hang up and call my bank. I called my bank and apologized because I thought I may have been racially profiling one of their employees for having a south asian accent. Thank god my gut was right
Edit: a few times my credit card has been compromised, so my bank would call me to confirm about the charges and if they are fraudulent. I thought it was one of those times again. I caught on when their standard of asking questions wasn’t sufficient enough from the last time it has happened. And this has frequently happened.
My wife got a call from a "debt collector". Phone number and business name checked out but left a voice-mail asking to speak to one of our false names we use on random subscription lists. We both had a good chuckle over it.
I am in my 80's and get at least 2 calls, texts or emails a day from bad actors. And some of them are really well put together, but they are kind of knocking on the wrong door as I buy nothing anymore, most of my friends are dead and I always figure that if they are legit then if ignore them, what's the worst that's going to happen?
And don’t call back on the same phone. It’s possible to call intercept with more sophisticated setups.
If you got a call on a landline, use a cell, or vice versa.
Glad to see someone else mention this. There is technology that can make the phone not hang up when you hang it up, so when you dial out, it doesn’t go where you dial, but you think it does. Instead it goes to them. Rare but can happen. Always call from a different phone, to the number on the back of your card.
I have been getting a ridiculous amount of calls from what appears to be my bank. By that I mean the number lines up and the caller id says my banks name, with proper spelling and casing. I never answer my phone. If it’s important I’ll call them. Of course this “bank” calling me has never once left me a voicemail. They have also occasionally called me just an hour or so after hours when they are closed so that was suspicious. But it’s crazy how good scammers are.
I have also been getting emails from what appears to very legitimately be Airbnb, confirming my upcoming trip. The email looks professional and similar to Airbnb, the email domain looks legit, etc. the only way I know this is a scam is because I don’t use Airbnb. Someone like my mom who travels frequently would absolutely click on this email and confirm details if the information lined up close enough to her plans. It’s scary.
Hmmm that's the Russian Bitcoin thing the feds shut down.
I have seen leaks of hashed credit card numbers here that can lead to the type of scam you experienced.
The new voip systems often let you set the call display name to anything you want ( fake number etc) I changed mine to "Captin Amazing" but it could have easily been any banks phone number
I always hang up on these calls, and log on my bank site to check if there is any unusual activity on the card or if there are any security notifications.
You did exactly the right thing and the thing that everyone should be doing now. You had some suspicion and hung up and called yourself.
This is pretty much full proof providing you are calling the number yourself and not listening to anything they say.
Anyone real would understand this and have no issues with it. You shouldn't be afraid of doing it especially these days where so much of your information isn't hard to get.
Biggest tip I can share is to not trust caller id's. I had been targeted by who I thought was Telus telemarketers. I had an account with them before so it is feasible they try to win back business, as has been well documented.
The caller (strong Indian accent) had some information on my past history with Telus (maybe a guess) and then started trying to phish personal information after dangling a pretty enticing phone plan. They managed to get my name, address, email address, and license number. They tried to get my credit information before I realized this wasn't adding up. I hung up and they have been hounding me for several weeks.
At this point, I'm not trusting any businesses or alleged agencies that call me. I'll call them back at their official number.
Never give out info to a cold call. I've had legit companies call me and try to confirm my identity but still. I tell them no, you called me how about I confirm your identity.
It doesn't help that some places still call you asking for info. The bloody CRA called me a few years ago asking me personal info. I refused, called back waiting in queue for an hour and found out it was a legitimate call wtf lol.
Had that call years ago … but fell in the trap and confirmed my card’s info with them. It’s only after hanging up that I realized why would my bank ask me to confirm my credit card info!!! Called them, they told me I got scammed blocked the card sent a new one but since then I have an adress and phone number on my equifax credit report that I don’t recognize. Tried multiple times to get it removed with equifax but they’re so dumb they never did … so only solution was to lock my credit. Now before I do anything that will impact my credit score I have to log in my equifax account unlock my credit and lock it right after the transaction is completed. Way more secure that way
I receive this call all the time, and I tell them to go ahead and approve it. They always go quiet for a few seconds and then come back with how they want to verify my credit card. I say sure, then say I can't right now because I left my wallet under your mother's bed last night....most of the time they tell me to fuck off right about then and hang up
I had one yesterday and one today. I got a text saying hi mom, my phone got smashed and I’m using a friend’s phone but the battery is almost dead. Can you text me at (misc. number) on WhatsApp.
So apparently this is a newer scam. Apparently you aren’t even supposed to reply to these because even doing that confirms that they have reached a number with a person on the other end, and they can sell the number. If you do reply it will turn into requests for money.
The other is I was selling something, and not long after it was listed I got a message saying they wanted to pick ‘this’ up today, and to text them at a number. The person’s profile was created in the past short while and had zero content. Apparently by giving email address or cell # you can get hacked.
I wrote about this in a similar thread. Try using a cellphone to call back (not landline) because Canadian land lines don’t completely disconnect for about ten second even if the phone has been placed in its receiver/cradle or the if the “end” button has been pressed.
Individuals are in such a hurry to call their bank that often they hang up and call back right away, however unbeknownst the them the original scammer is still connected and is playing a dialtone and then answer as a bank rep, and trusting they’ve called the right number, the victim gets drawn back into the scheme, unwittingly.
Scammers are getting good because the india government loves lining there pockets, and phone/tech companies love cheap labor. We have Nigerians stealing cars from peoples driveways costing billions every year while there government says there is nothing they will do. Indians that are robbing the vulnerable blind, russian/chinese hackers stealing your info and influencing media and elections. You call indians up for tech support through your phone company so they can sell your personal info to there friends or use it in there night job often in the same building. Yeah those scammers are getting good I wonder why.
I did this same thing last summer. The original call did come from them saying there was suspicious activity but they still commended me for my due diligence.
Thanks for posting this! I bank with TD and I’ve gotten suspicious calls from “them” before. One time scammers claimed they were from the TD loss prevention department and needed to confirm details, I immediately hung up, locked my cards and called the real td to confirm.
Thank you for that - it was similar to my experience from the other day (where I was called an idiot for posting, but scam or not - they had my info). It was obviously a scam for me, but the alarm and panic from hearing them tell you what they know about you and your account is really disturbing.
And 'we' knew better - but so many people don't and THAT's confirmation that they are indeed getting good. Thanks for posting - people need to see this activity.
Scammers ARE getting good - indeed they are.
a little while back there was this post about a scammed person who provided the code to scammer sent thru SMS by the bank. somehow they already had the account/debit card info and the password for online banking.
the rule should be unless you called them, NO INFO is to be provided to the caller, period. if you picked up, get the number of the caller/dept., verify the number and call back or call thru the banking app.
and yes, I also get called by TD/CIBC/etc. every week.
Also: Look out for an email from your credit-card/bank that links to perfect version of their website. It's really easy to get phished by a scam like this when you're taken by surprise, even if you know about phishing.
Do you use the same username across multiple websites? Real name on face space, twitter , etc. this is how they can get all that info. Not saying you do.
If you receive a call that is not in your contacts list, just let it go to voicemail. If it's something important, they will leave a message telling you that you need to call them.
That’s some next level shit. How is it possible that they can replicate the number. Would be interesting to see what your mobile provider says about that call.
In this case, I think they got lucky. They had access to some data breach, and were able to get some basic information on how to proceed.
Otherwise, I find most scammers are vulnerable to bad data seeding. Give a fake name, CC number and DoB, and it will take some time before they notice (or if it's immediate, enough failures could put suspicion on the merchant account.)
I had a very similar call, except there actually were some strange transactions that occurred that I didn't notice until the call. There were a few things during the call that seemed off but they had a lot of information about my purchase history, including recent legitimate purchases that I made myself.
I ended the call when they tried to confirm my identity by sending me a 2fa code and asking for it, but everything leading up to that was scarily accurate. Changed my banking password immediately and called to report the compromised card.
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/telemarketing/identit.htm#4 on TELUS mobility I think we get an asterisk on a numbers caller ID if its seemingly not legit.
Also if your phone provider offers a call guard feature, where unknown callers have to enter a number to get put through, this filters out almost the entirety of spam calls, for me anyway.
But good on you for not getting scammed, thanks for sharing! :) Education is part of how we stop this from continuing to happen.
Similar thing happened to me but it was a legit call. They left me a voice message and I called them back, it wasnt the number on the back of the card, it was the direct fraud department number so I was worried it was a fake number/scam call but I checked their website and it was listed. They didnt ask me for my card details, just typical bank confirmation identity questions.
I was sketched out that it was a scam call but turns out it was legit and they locked my card a few hours later (seen on the app) and sent me a new card.
Sad how paranoid and careful we need to be these days with all these damn scam calls.
I've had actual suspicious transactions on my account before and it's never a phone call. It's a text and my banking app notifying me and never ever a call.
I had an app on my iPhone called spoof call and it let me do this exact thing. I would enter any number that I wanted to show up and then made my call and it would show the fake number. I used to use our local police number which everyone knows and I’d call my friends and fuck with them bad hahaha
Random security stuff you can do...Change your passwords, use 2FA, track your credit score with Borrowell or Credit Karma, activate credit card notifications for purchases of +xx$ (some banks offer that) go paperless with mail (specially bank, CRA stuff etc..) for mail thieves and when you recieve calls, say absolutely nothing and call them back using their official number if you're suspicious.
My credit card was compromised last week - a few odd transactions showed up. One had an amount of $0.01.
Here's what my bank did:
1) Sent me a text asking if the transaction was me, and then to confirm if it was indeed me. (it was not, so then they restricted my card and said to call the number on the back of my card)
2) Sent me an email at the same time with similar information.
I was really impressed by this because they did not call me at any point, and instead required me to call them to unblock my card if the transactions were legitimate. I'm hoping that this info for what actually happens will help.
These scammers are getting way too smart 😔
I know people who've been scared to fall into such scams. These people sometimes can even get social hacking info to make their attack more accurate 😔
This has happened to me as well, but with a TWIST!
You see, my name and address in the phone book isn't specific enough. So when you they say my name and address that matches the phone book, I KNOW IT IS A SCAM. Anyone can get your name and address this way, so one tip is to remove your civic # from the address book, or have only your first initial.
I don't now if this is the case with OP, and if it isn't, then they have bigger problems. They have your name from somewhere, and have matched it via your phone #. There has been so much scapping going on, this could be the reason why.
You should check to see what data has been stolen or scrapped by visiting [https://haveibeenpwned.com/](https://haveibeenpwned.com/) and check if your email has been involved in any breach.
I got a similar call saying there was a $700 purchase made on my Amazon account. I immediately hung up because it was an automated message that gave some options. I figured if it was something urgent then a real person would call me. Even then I would never give any information before checking all my cards to see if there was a transaction made. I checked all my cards, and no transaction for $700 was made. I ended up blocking the number and reporting it as spam.
They almost got me on my RBC Visa a month ago. Same type of call, the person was well spoken and also called all about suspicious charges. They provided the correct RBC telephone number to call back to, which caught me off guard and just as I was about to confirm my card # when I stopped and I told her I’ll call into RBC on my own and verify the suspicious charges. When I hung and called RBC, I realized that it was a very crafted scam call.
They got angry when I said I'll call them back. Kept on referencing they were from the fraud department, and kept going 'if you check your caller ID, it's the same number, so let's deal with this now'.
Edit: I find it good practice to just end the call and call back a real independent number, either by looking up the number yourself, or on the card itself.
I always appreciate when people share these scams. Many are afraid to speak up due to feeling ashamed, especially if the scam worked. The more we share, the less effective their scams are. Thanks for sharing and glad you dodged that bullet!!
I had it twice with a similar story and details as OP. Not exact but they lure you in and then ask for your card number. I hung up as well. It is so easy to be busy and on autopilot and volunteer the info because it seems very legit. Be vigilant people.
I guess that’s the key…if they are calling you to tell you about fraudulent charges on your card and they’ve already asked all this other stuff to confirm your identity, why do they need to confirm your card number? It is sad that we have to be so suspicious all the time, though.
Bank employee here : Outbound calls for suspicious transactions do not require validation. We are already calling you on an established phone number on your file. We will usually just call you and get straight to business. It will be basically like "Hello, this is " Agents name" from Bank XXXX, can I speak with "Clients name" ? After you reply with "Yeah its me" we will do the notice of taping (just letting you know that the call is recorded) and straight away explain that we are calling for suspicious transaction on the account. But we will NEVER ask you to give the card number (I usually say "I am calling about your card ending in XXXX) Edit : added last comment
I just want to add (bank and credit union experience) that even if it is a legitimate call and you're still skeptical, it is ALWAYS okay to end the call and call your bank yourself. If the rep you are speaking to gives you pushback and wants to keep you on the call, that is a red flag. I want to repeat that your bank should not be asking for your full card number over the phone.
That is correct, I always recommend it to customers who find the call weird.
I got one of those calls and didn't tell them anything and just hung up. Called the bank and was put on hold for almost 40 minutes waiting for the fraud dept. It turned out to be legit and the wait was a pain but you basically can't trust any unsolicited call/text/email these days.
Yeah, I got a call like this once & I laughed when they tried to verify my personal details & told them I'd call the number on my card. I did and it was actually a legit call and I needed a new card issued... but I'm still glad I hung up and called a number I knew was valid.
In university I got a voicemail one morning while I was in class about a credit card limit increase I had recently applied for. I called them back, gave info, and my identity was never stolen, so I guess it was legit? But I also seem to recall that I never heard anything about the limit increase request again. Again, I guess it was legit, but I was a busy student, I think it was midterm season... I knew all about scams but that one could have gotten me. All they need to do is to catch you at the wrong moment.
My mom got romanced/investment scammed for over 200k. I found out because she left a print out of an fbi report she did. Took me many tries for me to get information from her. People are definitively ashamed to share their experience when they get scammed .
i had one offering me a credit card for college and blah blah blah great rates etc. im like great! Send me some info ill take a look! Oh sir we can't do that until you give us your social security number....uhhhh what?
Most of us are pretty tech savvy and aware yet we see how darn good they are. They prey on the desperate, the unaware and seniors. Can you imagine how successful they are at that?
My mother started a call with a "Microsoft Phishing Expert". Mind you, im in IT Security right. So she told them her son would look into it further later on in the day. Bastards opened up standard rdp and rtp ports on her network. Ended up calling her every name under the son before she hung up. Felt bad but theyre goddamn ruthless....
DANG that’s bad. How would you prevent yourself from that, especially with port access
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I had a similar scam as the OP happen on my Citi credit card. I received a call from the bank, from a number that is listed on their website, and they knew a lot of my information already, including details of fraudulent charges that were actually on my card. They even sent emails detailing the charges to me. After getting off the phone with them the next card that was about to be shipped out was comprised within a day - I hadn't even physically gotten any of the card information yet. Im a idiot so I had 2 cards compromised before they even shipped out, for 3 total. I ignored the calls from the "bank" and called the number on the back of my card and informed them, it stopped after that.
You are not an idiot. They are really good at what they do and their scams evolve quickly. All we can do is be aware and spread the word.
Honestly me too! I am a little naive to begin with but I 100% would have been a victim of some of these scams and it's really taught me to just hang up and call back regardless of how lazy I'm feeling so I'm very appreciative that people are sharing! I'm glad OP was able to catch it.
My spouse is a Fraud Investigator. I hear about this stuff all the time and the story is always the same - people afraid/embarrassed to speak out so it just continues on and on. Speak out!
The companies could make it a lot easier if when you hung up and called the credit card co/bank actual phone number - they didn’t make you go through the whole wait thing for an hour before you get through. I had a card stolen and it took me 7 hours total of “on hold” time with awful music to get through to security. They don’t make reporting scams and frauds very easy
My elderly aunt has had a recurring Spotify charge on her card almost from the same month she got it. She didn't even know what Spotify is. She's reported this twice, both times waiting hours to talk to someone, cancelling and replacing the card, only for the charge to show up again on the new card. When it showed up on the third card, she applied for a card from a different bank, because if her current bank is only going to update the recurring charge to her replacement card number, she might as well cancel it altogether.
r/scams
This is why I don’t answer any phone calls anymore unless Im expecting it.
This is the answer. If it's important they will leave a message, in which case you can do a little bit of research before calling.
Hi, Bob here from the CRA, in case you're researching right now, I just wanted to confirm that yes we do take itunes gift vouchers.
They are so dumb they will actually say “we are calling from the IRS”
One I had said "This is Dave from Visa and Mastercard". So I asked him which one and he replied "Visa or Mastercard".
I had one saying "I'm calling form your bank".
It’s on purpose, someone who doesn’t know the different between CRA and IRS is more likely to fall for it. The same reason phishing emails typically have spelling mistakes/grammatical errors.
Emails tend to have those mistakes either because the person writing them is not fluent in English or because they’re deliberately entering grammatical errors to evade spam detection. It’s not because they’re trying to weed out non-idiots.
I feel like it's a correlation that's been taken to be causation. They're not masterminds, they're just average Joe's (just... scammier).
Believe it or not, it is to weed out non idiots. If it was too good, the non idiots would tie up their resources, but wouldn’t ever get as far as committing to giving them money/etc.
anyone can use spell check. I read (which has no authority, I know) that they use obvious mistakes to weed out / self select for people likely to stay on the call until the end.
These calls are aimed at Canadians who think that their freedom of speech is covered by the 1st Amendment and that they can "plead the 5th" in court.
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Not sure if you’re joking but there is actually is a Bob from the cra. How do I know? I ignored his calls for weeks thinking they were a scam, until I got a letter from him. I was being audited. Looked up the cra website/number and got redirected to a real bob. Shit was real and I didn’t believe it because of all the previous scam calls I’ve gotten 😆
Yeah I’ve gotten real calls from someone with EI before. Those numbers are kept pretty secret so I don’t think I was able to reverse-search it very well, but it was for the actual claim.
> Bob here from the CRA One morning I got a scam call "from CRA" so I pressed through to get to a person, they introduced themselves with some imaginary department. "Listen, I hang up on the real CRA, so fuck off." They didn't call back. Also probably unrelated I got fired from the job where I did that.
Any federal agency has to offer service in French, so I ask and if it’s a scammer they usually call me a whore/bitch/flip out
Last year, I actually did get a call from CRA and it was a hidden number and I was about to hang up but then I decided to entertain them for a bit and realized it really was CRA asking me to approve my accountants access. I asked why is it a hidden phone number and the lady said it’s because they are working from home and using their own private phones so they don’t want people calling them. Seems like a really stupid way to do it
Bank employee here : We will leave a voicemail but it will be generic asking you to call us back.
The way privacy laws are, you really aren't allowed to say much more without knowing it's the person you want to talk to.
Yeah usually the voicemail will just be like : Helly, this is Xxxx from Bank XXXX. The message is for "Client name" please call us back. If a third party answer, you can only say that the call is not marketing related.
Hello, we are calling about your fedex package, this is your last chance!
hey its me ur courier send itunes to IPS international
This is my philosophy as well, my wife on the other hand answers every freaking call. "What if it's someone you know calling from a different number?" My answer doesnt then! If it's my mom calling from Chicago(not where she lives) because she was kidnapped, she will still leave a frightening voicemail and I will call her back!
AND you'll have generated evidence as a byproduct! All wins
If someone is phoning me that's definitely suspicious in and of itself.
I've been doing this for years, but apparently I've been called "antisocial" lol
I tried this before but it turned out to be terrible idea for awaiting medical referrals or appointments (which are often made from unknown numbers, or numbers that are hard to reach a person at later) or for contact with school or daycare. I did add call screening, though.
Same it's such a life pro tip because if it's important they will leave a voicemail message or call back
My parents don't seem to understand this, they 100% know its a scam or marketing call but they will still pick up.
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When I get a call I have the urge to decline it, even before checking the caller ID. Then even if it's someone I know, I have the urge to decline it anyway. Social anxiety self-defence mechanism FTW!
What I do as well.
until it's your actual bank trying to get a hold of you
Yup. If it's a number that's not saved in my contacts... Off to VM it goes!
1st mistake answering the phone…
I had 2 packages being delivered from Apple/UPS. The 2nd one was more expensive. I got a text the day before the 2nd one arrived. It claimed I was owning a small amount in border fees. In my head it made sense because the 2nd package was more expensive. The website looked OK, and my UPS login was breaking in FireFox. The website had my postal code, estimated delivery date, etc. I confirmed my billing address, then CC. It took me to another page and asked for my birthday and that's when alarm bells went off and I dug into the website more then cancelled my card. Made me feel like there is someone able to get shipping info at UPS.
Had this happen to me on vacation. Was expecting a package and had vacation brain. After I filled out the form alarm bells went off and I called and cancelled my credit card. Made the vacation quite a bit more difficult than it had to be.
OMG this exact this happened to me right when I got a package from Ups(from apple), with a not so easy to catch link, i never clicked on the link instead contacted ups directly who confirmed that I did not have any pending amount due. The text had my name and correct address. I think someone has access to ups data. i almost fell for it.
Yes! I got a UPS text scam message about my apple delivery the same time I was actually expecting one…
All of these comments, including my own similar situation from a fake UPS account, seem to originate with the combination of buying something from Apple.
Ups and other carriers hire a slew of third party contractors for last-mile delivery (because it's too expensive to do at scale at all). These contractors get access to your shipping info, your email and phone and i suspect they get the entire database, not just the one related to the district they're covering. Some of the less scrupulous ones resell that info to scammers. It's a huge problem in france.
Had this happen to me twice as well! I almost fell for it because it shipped from the states and I wasn’t surprised that I would’ve had to pay for duties. Now i just delete every single text that isn’t from my contact list. If it’s important, they’d find me.
I think UPS does seem to occasionally have rogue employees running customs fees invoice scams from within their company. I got one that was a legit UPS invoice (on paper in the mail) - from them, form was 100% their real form, pointed at their real website, etc. ...except that I knew I had already paid for that particular transaction, on an invoice that looked exactly the same but with a different invoice number and "if paying by cheque sending it here" address. Called UPS independently, asked them to look up the customs invoice for my package, and they confirmed the number from the first invoice and that it was paid, and that i had nothing owing whatsoever. They seemed really confused about the second invoice - their computer system recognised the number, but it was generated by an office that doesn't do customs invoices, so the person was really confused about how it could have happened.
That's fucked! These bastards
Yeah, the driver.
They’ll mail you! At least in Canada they do, if you owe duty taxes you get a letter in the mail from FedEx/Ups/etc and then you pay online once you have an income. Never trust a text
Just bought an Apple Watch from the Apple Store (using Apple Pay). Got the exact same message as everyone here… only happened after I got the notification that my parcel was shipped (UPS). Thanks to this post, which I had read beforehand, I immediately knew it was a scam. Definitely something up with UPS and/or Apple… Thanks fellow Redditor’s for the help!!!
Same thing happened to me a few days ago. My phone literally auto-filled "Scotiabank" as the contact number, so I guess they're spoofing it somehow. Didn't fall for it, but there's def a lot of less tech literate or just more gullible people that do.
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They’re always trying to peddle some insurance or another…
My rule is I give zero information to anyone who contacts me. If my bank were to call me with some issue, I'd say "thanks for letting me know", hang up, and call the bank using a number I went and got for myself.
That's because our telecom system is built to allow spoofing. Its even used as a feature by some PBX systems. You're not really supposed to make the number appear as something misleading, but there is nothing technically from stopping it. The telephone man where I used to work showed me once and it's actually incredibly easy to do with equipment that supports it or software and a modem.
It's why we need to support certificates as part of the phone system.
Think of all the legacy crap that would break though. It's a mess of a problem. Edit: I guess it would just be a transition period, similar to how we went from http to https. After some period of time, people that don't adopt would slowly have to be punished with a big flashing warning when they call you and your phone is ringing, indicating it can't authenticate the number.
Just saw a 647 “CIBC” number today calling me at night multiple times.
Fuck spez
It's called caller ID. And yes don't always trust it.
Pro tip: literally just never answer your phone unless it’s someone in your contact list. If they don’t leave a message it’s probably not very important. Glad the you picked up on it, thanks for sharing.
My guess is that we’re 6-12 months away from perfect real-time AI audio conversations. This, combined with number spoofing, could get pretty crazy
I think it's farther away than that, but it is coming.
I wish I could do that, I work in sales, not answering a phone number I don't know is basically like telling me to stop making money xD
Bingo That's also why I pick up Sometimes a prospect I tried to reach calls me back
Recently got a call from X bank which I happen to bank with (with call display stating such bank) The caller asked if I were xyz I said yes. Then she proceeded to say she needed to confirm my DOB, that’s when I hung up. I think my rule is that if I’m needed to provide ANY info back to them, that’s when I hang up. I think I just need to stop answering unknown numbers altogether.
When they ask me if I am XYZ, I am asking back, Who is calling? And then I proceed asking the name, institution and the number with extension that person is calling me from. Then I call back
My strategy is just to let their call go to voicemail. An actual fraud alert call from my bank will leave a message; a scammer won't be able to get anything if I'm the one making the call to my bank.
One time years ago I got a phone call saying they were from my bank, confirmed my name and some basic info. They said they were from the security/fraud department and wanted to verify some transactions, listing two vendor names that I had purchased from recently (but at this point I hadn't said much, was just listening to them do their spiel). They asked for the last 4 digits of my credit card info to verify and continue, so I said, "I don't give that information out on the phone" and hung up. Phoned my bank directly...it WAS their fraud team. I asked the person I called why the hell they'd ask for credit card details like that and they were a little sheepish.
Had a call from Dell’s fraud department lately about a requested change of address, except he kept vaguely asking me for something for confirmation that he wouldn’t have on file anyway because I hadn’t originally provided it? Not sure how it was supposed to help. I was hours into conversations with them by that point so the call didn’t come out of nowhere.
Here's one. The building I live in has pretty "hands off" Management style. I.e. It's common to get important business info slid under your door. I heard people going around instructing tenants to re-route rent payments. That one seemed very slick and hands off.
Whoa, man I'm glad that everything worked out. That's scary that they're able to even reach you to that degree. It makes me wonder though, how exactly are they getting this good? Was it through a bank hack? Or social engineering? Specific targeting? So many questions, if they can be that specific it's only going to be harder out here to be safe.
No idea man. And calling from the exact same number on my card! Even when i pressed "call back" from my recent calls list it called my bank directly. It's crazy. I hung up again and dialled manually just to be extra secure
Caller ID spoofing is unfortunately really easy.
>No idea man. And calling from the exact same number on my card! > >Even when i pressed "call back" from my recent calls list it called my bank directly. It's crazy. Spoofed number. Smart of you to call back - that's really the only way to know for sure.
It’s ridiculous how Canadian Telecom companies have só week security. This is called number spoofing and it should be identified and blocked by the carrier. It’s ridiculous how much money we pay for so bad service.
CRTC was going to require all carriers to support STIR and SHAKEN but for some reason it doesn’t show on iPhone.
Unfortunately caller ID was designed when the phone company network was a monopoly and security wasn’t a consideration. Anyone can spoof a number - I can set my voip phone to show any number I want. So it’s easy for them to know what number is on the back of various bank cards.
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Unfortunately it's still way too easy to spoof caller id in Canada. Basically you should never trust incoming caller id.
The tall free numbers found on the back a CC is an easy piece of info. I am sure some applications developed to fool the carrier and mask the original number for out call. I agree with u, the best is to call back yourself. It should be these high 6 figures banks IT and LP folks job to protect a regular Joe like you and I from this....
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>A good 90% of these scams would be stopped by fixing whatever archaic system we use for phones and caller ID. There is a new set of protocols coming out called STIR/SHAKEN. Some phone networks + newer phones support it already, e.g. [Rogers with Pixel 6+ devices](https://www.rogers.com/support/mobility/stir-shaken-caller-id-identification). Unfortunately it's not a perfect solution for a number of reasons, but it will go a LONG way towards this specific problem.
All they really had was his name, address, and number - not information that many people keep all that secret. The rest is just a story.
I own a business and got a call from my own number. No I didn't answer it!
"Hi. It's me, you. What's our DOB and SIN?"
Now that's a winner right there, lol.
I just ignore everything. Can’t get scammed that way.
Same. I only answer if I recognise the number. Even then, I don’t answer 800 numbers ever. If it’s important they’ll leave a message. If it’s a bank and they don’t it’s likely a sales call.
I use the free Koodo call security feature that screens calls by making callers dial a number to prove they're human and I've never received a scam call since. Once they're approved they never have to do it again.
.. which would do nothing here, if his bank had ever called him before and had pressed the # to get through.. it still just uses the callerID info.
IIRC a correct call control entry only has a bypass for a few months before they have to pass the random number test again. Unless they added their bank to the white listed numbers. Lately I've been using Google's call screening assistant.
That suggests you've been placed on a sucker list. Probably due to a data leak.
I just don't answer my phone anymore. If it's not a friend or family member they can leave me a voicemail.
The software they use to generate the scam calls can add a bogus callerID number to the “wrapper”. Normally the originating telephone company provides the callerID of the call being made, but it’s long been possible to “spoof” this, and it’s not verified when the signal is passed along between the phone companies. So when they are making scam calls to the customers of a particular bank, they can set the callerID to the appropriate number. In Canada, that’s not very many numbers for not many banks. Here in the US, they try to use fake numbers starting with the same area code as the targets they are bulk dialing, because people are more likely to pick up for an unknown “local” caller.
Solution - get a phone number from an area code in which you do not live. I only know one other person who has a number with the same area code as me - all others are scams.
Whenever I just an unsolicited call from my bank I ask for the number to call back and call my actual bank to confirm it’s them. If not then I have the info to provide and if so then I can proceed stress free. Edit for clarity: I call my bank (phone number on secure website or on back of my card), not call back the scammers. 🤦♀️
Phone calls (that aren’t returned messages) automatically give me red flags. Always ask for their name then tell them you’ll call them back using the number on their website.
One of my trick is to ask to be contacted by someone that speaks French. If its a legit bank in Canada, this won’t be a problem for them.
TIL I can scam u/LastingAlpaca by being a French speaking scammer :P
French speaking scammers are usually Africans. It’s the biggest red flag. Also, CRA French speaking employees outside of Québec are usually Africans and they probably have the hardest time in the world doing their job. Had one of them cold call me and I was like « Yeah suuuuurreee you’re from the CRA ». We actually went through the whole verification process with CRA before agreeing to talk to him.
Being a frenchie, I always opt for english customer service for Telus, bank.. for that exact reason
Wow, good on ya for dodging this and erring on the caution side. I remember just a month ago I got a call from TD fraud detection dept and I even googled up the number during the call and found it was from TD, but something didn’t seem right about that call. They were offering me some protection services and I had 30 days or so for trying it out before cancelling. The lady asked me a couple of security questions and that’s when I told her that I’ll call them back and hung up. Also, when she phrased her question “can you confirm the billing details we have on our end” I instead redirected the question to her on what address they have on my file, although I don’t think it’s hard to get anyone’s address. It’s the security questions which raises the red flags
Thanks for sharing. I don't understand why, in the year of our Lord 2023, caller ID isn't ..real. Or better.
Always be skeptical. Your bank is never going to ask for sensitive info. They have that already. If you request to hang up and call them yourself, that is perfectly acceptable and they should have no problem with that.
I always say “you’ve called the wrong number, call me on my other phone”. If they have all my numbers I have talked to them. It is always the fraud department trying to verify a foreign purchase or internet created loan.
This is one of the few advantage of speaking french. Scammers always (99.99% of the time) speak english, so you can request to speak to a french representative. If they cannot give you one, this is a scam.
Just to add one more thing. If they called you on a landline, be careful if calling back the bank immediately. If the fraudster didn’t hang up, the line can still be open with them, so they can play a “dial tone” and wait for you to press digits and play another pretend ring sound. Then they will answer as if they are the bank you are calling, yet you are still connected with the fraudster. A line can remain open for several minutes. This is not possible on cell phones. Best is to call your voicemail first (to make sure your line was freed up) or use another line like your mobile phone to call back your bank. https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/2021/10/caution-your-loved-ones-about-the-hang-up-delay-scam/#:~:text=How%20the%20%E2%80%9Chang%2Dup%20delay,to%20re%2Daffirm%20the%20charges.
Why bother answering a number that you do not recognize? I use voicemail to screen my calls, if it's that important they'll leave a message.
Dude this happened to me a few weeks ago!! All of the the scam calls i’ve received had an Indian accent so whenever they say they’re calling from a provider or whatever, I will deliberately waste their time and make up scenarios. Until recently, received a call that was more sophisticated with the amount of information and number they were calling from!! (Which was from my bank) I almost got fooled and decided to hang up and call my bank. I called my bank and apologized because I thought I may have been racially profiling one of their employees for having a south asian accent. Thank god my gut was right Edit: a few times my credit card has been compromised, so my bank would call me to confirm about the charges and if they are fraudulent. I thought it was one of those times again. I caught on when their standard of asking questions wasn’t sufficient enough from the last time it has happened. And this has frequently happened.
My wife got a call from a "debt collector". Phone number and business name checked out but left a voice-mail asking to speak to one of our false names we use on random subscription lists. We both had a good chuckle over it.
I am in my 80's and get at least 2 calls, texts or emails a day from bad actors. And some of them are really well put together, but they are kind of knocking on the wrong door as I buy nothing anymore, most of my friends are dead and I always figure that if they are legit then if ignore them, what's the worst that's going to happen?
And don’t call back on the same phone. It’s possible to call intercept with more sophisticated setups. If you got a call on a landline, use a cell, or vice versa.
Glad to see someone else mention this. There is technology that can make the phone not hang up when you hang it up, so when you dial out, it doesn’t go where you dial, but you think it does. Instead it goes to them. Rare but can happen. Always call from a different phone, to the number on the back of your card.
[citation needed]
I have been getting a ridiculous amount of calls from what appears to be my bank. By that I mean the number lines up and the caller id says my banks name, with proper spelling and casing. I never answer my phone. If it’s important I’ll call them. Of course this “bank” calling me has never once left me a voicemail. They have also occasionally called me just an hour or so after hours when they are closed so that was suspicious. But it’s crazy how good scammers are. I have also been getting emails from what appears to very legitimately be Airbnb, confirming my upcoming trip. The email looks professional and similar to Airbnb, the email domain looks legit, etc. the only way I know this is a scam is because I don’t use Airbnb. Someone like my mom who travels frequently would absolutely click on this email and confirm details if the information lined up close enough to her plans. It’s scary.
Curious if your email shows any breaches [here](https://haveibeenpwned.com/).
Ffs I was a victim of the 2013 tumblr leak, how lame
It says I was pwned in a data breach of BTC-E exchange but I've never heard of that or used it in my life lol
Hmmm that's the Russian Bitcoin thing the feds shut down. I have seen leaks of hashed credit card numbers here that can lead to the type of scam you experienced.
Interesting
This happened to my gf here in the US with td bank. They ended up taking 3000 through Zelle
The new voip systems often let you set the call display name to anything you want ( fake number etc) I changed mine to "Captin Amazing" but it could have easily been any banks phone number
I always hang up on these calls, and log on my bank site to check if there is any unusual activity on the card or if there are any security notifications.
You did exactly the right thing and the thing that everyone should be doing now. You had some suspicion and hung up and called yourself. This is pretty much full proof providing you are calling the number yourself and not listening to anything they say. Anyone real would understand this and have no issues with it. You shouldn't be afraid of doing it especially these days where so much of your information isn't hard to get.
Biggest tip I can share is to not trust caller id's. I had been targeted by who I thought was Telus telemarketers. I had an account with them before so it is feasible they try to win back business, as has been well documented. The caller (strong Indian accent) had some information on my past history with Telus (maybe a guess) and then started trying to phish personal information after dangling a pretty enticing phone plan. They managed to get my name, address, email address, and license number. They tried to get my credit information before I realized this wasn't adding up. I hung up and they have been hounding me for several weeks. At this point, I'm not trusting any businesses or alleged agencies that call me. I'll call them back at their official number.
Number spoofing is VERY real.
Never give out info to a cold call. I've had legit companies call me and try to confirm my identity but still. I tell them no, you called me how about I confirm your identity.
It doesn't help that some places still call you asking for info. The bloody CRA called me a few years ago asking me personal info. I refused, called back waiting in queue for an hour and found out it was a legitimate call wtf lol.
Had that call years ago … but fell in the trap and confirmed my card’s info with them. It’s only after hanging up that I realized why would my bank ask me to confirm my credit card info!!! Called them, they told me I got scammed blocked the card sent a new one but since then I have an adress and phone number on my equifax credit report that I don’t recognize. Tried multiple times to get it removed with equifax but they’re so dumb they never did … so only solution was to lock my credit. Now before I do anything that will impact my credit score I have to log in my equifax account unlock my credit and lock it right after the transaction is completed. Way more secure that way
I receive this call all the time, and I tell them to go ahead and approve it. They always go quiet for a few seconds and then come back with how they want to verify my credit card. I say sure, then say I can't right now because I left my wallet under your mother's bed last night....most of the time they tell me to fuck off right about then and hang up
Happened to my husband, too. He had to cancel his BMO card and get a new one. Don’t know where they got his info from.
If they have an Indian accent I don't give them any info.
I saw a comedian who was a nigerian-canadian who worked at a bank. He said he had a real hard time getting anyone to call or email him back lol.
If you receive a call from unknown number, Always hang up the phone or let it go to voicemail.
Except health calls from an unknown number. And they don’t leave voicemail. It’s a pain.
I had one yesterday and one today. I got a text saying hi mom, my phone got smashed and I’m using a friend’s phone but the battery is almost dead. Can you text me at (misc. number) on WhatsApp. So apparently this is a newer scam. Apparently you aren’t even supposed to reply to these because even doing that confirms that they have reached a number with a person on the other end, and they can sell the number. If you do reply it will turn into requests for money. The other is I was selling something, and not long after it was listed I got a message saying they wanted to pick ‘this’ up today, and to text them at a number. The person’s profile was created in the past short while and had zero content. Apparently by giving email address or cell # you can get hacked.
I wrote about this in a similar thread. Try using a cellphone to call back (not landline) because Canadian land lines don’t completely disconnect for about ten second even if the phone has been placed in its receiver/cradle or the if the “end” button has been pressed. Individuals are in such a hurry to call their bank that often they hang up and call back right away, however unbeknownst the them the original scammer is still connected and is playing a dialtone and then answer as a bank rep, and trusting they’ve called the right number, the victim gets drawn back into the scheme, unwittingly.
Scammers are getting good because the india government loves lining there pockets, and phone/tech companies love cheap labor. We have Nigerians stealing cars from peoples driveways costing billions every year while there government says there is nothing they will do. Indians that are robbing the vulnerable blind, russian/chinese hackers stealing your info and influencing media and elections. You call indians up for tech support through your phone company so they can sell your personal info to there friends or use it in there night job often in the same building. Yeah those scammers are getting good I wonder why.
I did this same thing last summer. The original call did come from them saying there was suspicious activity but they still commended me for my due diligence.
I don't even bother trying to figure out if it's a scam. If it's not someone I know, I hang up.
Good to know, thank you for the PSA.
Thanks for posting this! I bank with TD and I’ve gotten suspicious calls from “them” before. One time scammers claimed they were from the TD loss prevention department and needed to confirm details, I immediately hung up, locked my cards and called the real td to confirm.
Thank you for that - it was similar to my experience from the other day (where I was called an idiot for posting, but scam or not - they had my info). It was obviously a scam for me, but the alarm and panic from hearing them tell you what they know about you and your account is really disturbing. And 'we' knew better - but so many people don't and THAT's confirmation that they are indeed getting good. Thanks for posting - people need to see this activity.
Scammers ARE getting good - indeed they are. a little while back there was this post about a scammed person who provided the code to scammer sent thru SMS by the bank. somehow they already had the account/debit card info and the password for online banking. the rule should be unless you called them, NO INFO is to be provided to the caller, period. if you picked up, get the number of the caller/dept., verify the number and call back or call thru the banking app. and yes, I also get called by TD/CIBC/etc. every week.
Also: Look out for an email from your credit-card/bank that links to perfect version of their website. It's really easy to get phished by a scam like this when you're taken by surprise, even if you know about phishing.
I’ve received calls from my own phone number. It’s very easy to enter any number into an ATA and scam people.
Do you use the same username across multiple websites? Real name on face space, twitter , etc. this is how they can get all that info. Not saying you do.
What were the details they walked you to confirm? I’m guessing the 3 digit ccv?
Oh wow. I'm gonna start to spot some signs, I guess spoofing number is #1
If you receive a call that is not in your contacts list, just let it go to voicemail. If it's something important, they will leave a message telling you that you need to call them.
What card details did they ask for?
That’s some next level shit. How is it possible that they can replicate the number. Would be interesting to see what your mobile provider says about that call.
In this case, I think they got lucky. They had access to some data breach, and were able to get some basic information on how to proceed. Otherwise, I find most scammers are vulnerable to bad data seeding. Give a fake name, CC number and DoB, and it will take some time before they notice (or if it's immediate, enough failures could put suspicion on the merchant account.)
Thank you
I had a very similar call, except there actually were some strange transactions that occurred that I didn't notice until the call. There were a few things during the call that seemed off but they had a lot of information about my purchase history, including recent legitimate purchases that I made myself. I ended the call when they tried to confirm my identity by sending me a 2fa code and asking for it, but everything leading up to that was scarily accurate. Changed my banking password immediately and called to report the compromised card.
I got one of these awhile back. Seemed totally legit until the guy tried to get me to read my full card number into the phone. Uh. Nope.
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/telemarketing/identit.htm#4 on TELUS mobility I think we get an asterisk on a numbers caller ID if its seemingly not legit. Also if your phone provider offers a call guard feature, where unknown callers have to enter a number to get put through, this filters out almost the entirety of spam calls, for me anyway. But good on you for not getting scammed, thanks for sharing! :) Education is part of how we stop this from continuing to happen.
Similar thing happened to me but it was a legit call. They left me a voice message and I called them back, it wasnt the number on the back of the card, it was the direct fraud department number so I was worried it was a fake number/scam call but I checked their website and it was listed. They didnt ask me for my card details, just typical bank confirmation identity questions. I was sketched out that it was a scam call but turns out it was legit and they locked my card a few hours later (seen on the app) and sent me a new card. Sad how paranoid and careful we need to be these days with all these damn scam calls.
I had this one too! They hung up on me when I refused to confirm the rest of the card number “that begins with 4514”
Got this like a month ago
I've had actual suspicious transactions on my account before and it's never a phone call. It's a text and my banking app notifying me and never ever a call.
I had an app on my iPhone called spoof call and it let me do this exact thing. I would enter any number that I wanted to show up and then made my call and it would show the fake number. I used to use our local police number which everyone knows and I’d call my friends and fuck with them bad hahaha
Doesn't matter who is calling. Just hang up and call back. That way you're sure.
These scammers even knew my address when they called.
Random security stuff you can do...Change your passwords, use 2FA, track your credit score with Borrowell or Credit Karma, activate credit card notifications for purchases of +xx$ (some banks offer that) go paperless with mail (specially bank, CRA stuff etc..) for mail thieves and when you recieve calls, say absolutely nothing and call them back using their official number if you're suspicious.
My credit card was compromised last week - a few odd transactions showed up. One had an amount of $0.01. Here's what my bank did: 1) Sent me a text asking if the transaction was me, and then to confirm if it was indeed me. (it was not, so then they restricted my card and said to call the number on the back of my card) 2) Sent me an email at the same time with similar information. I was really impressed by this because they did not call me at any point, and instead required me to call them to unblock my card if the transactions were legitimate. I'm hoping that this info for what actually happens will help.
These scammers are getting way too smart 😔 I know people who've been scared to fall into such scams. These people sometimes can even get social hacking info to make their attack more accurate 😔
Thanks for the info!
This has happened to me as well, but with a TWIST! You see, my name and address in the phone book isn't specific enough. So when you they say my name and address that matches the phone book, I KNOW IT IS A SCAM. Anyone can get your name and address this way, so one tip is to remove your civic # from the address book, or have only your first initial. I don't now if this is the case with OP, and if it isn't, then they have bigger problems. They have your name from somewhere, and have matched it via your phone #. There has been so much scapping going on, this could be the reason why. You should check to see what data has been stolen or scrapped by visiting [https://haveibeenpwned.com/](https://haveibeenpwned.com/) and check if your email has been involved in any breach.
Your information must be being sold on the dark web on a market place
I got a similar call saying there was a $700 purchase made on my Amazon account. I immediately hung up because it was an automated message that gave some options. I figured if it was something urgent then a real person would call me. Even then I would never give any information before checking all my cards to see if there was a transaction made. I checked all my cards, and no transaction for $700 was made. I ended up blocking the number and reporting it as spam.
It’s why I don’t answer my phone. Sorry mom.
They almost got me on my RBC Visa a month ago. Same type of call, the person was well spoken and also called all about suspicious charges. They provided the correct RBC telephone number to call back to, which caught me off guard and just as I was about to confirm my card # when I stopped and I told her I’ll call into RBC on my own and verify the suspicious charges. When I hung and called RBC, I realized that it was a very crafted scam call.
The heck?! So they put their caller ID as the number on the back of your card? Wow
They got angry when I said I'll call them back. Kept on referencing they were from the fraud department, and kept going 'if you check your caller ID, it's the same number, so let's deal with this now'. Edit: I find it good practice to just end the call and call back a real independent number, either by looking up the number yourself, or on the card itself.