This Creative Bank Scam is Sweeping Across NH and I Almost Fell For it
Unfortunately, I have been the victim of many scams over the years and it is always a terrible, very violating feeling.
One time someone called my grandma (who was 84 at the time) and they pretended to me. My grandma is hard of hearing so any higher pitched female voice could pass for me. This voice told my Gram Cracker that I was in Italy and stuck in jail and that I needed her to wire me $10,000 to bail me out! My poor grandma almost had a heart attack.
Thankfully, she hung up on the woman impersonating me and called my dad to ask him if I was in Italy. I, of course, was not. Honestly, if you are praying on the elderly for your own personal gain there is a special place in Hell for you! And Jews don't even believe in hell!
The scam that happened this past weekend was a tricky one indeed. So I got a text message from "Bank of America" telling me that Fraud had been detected on my checking account.
Red Flag #1
I have had fraud detected on my card in the past. I always received an email from Bank of America and also a voicemail alerting me. This time I received neither.
Red Flag #2
If I were to be getting a text alert from Bank of America, one would think it would come from a 1-800 number. As you can see this text came from a 551 area code which is NEW JERSEY! Tony Soprano is trying to scam, ya girl.
Red Flag #3
The number they gave me to call to authenticate was also not a 1-800 number! This one had a 626 area code (which is LA)
Red Flag #4
And now the fourth and final flag (and arguably the most important flag of all), I logged on to my Bank of America account and there were no suspicious charges and also no alert telling me my account had been frozen. BOOM!
Even though the whole thing seemed fishy, I still called the number they gave me just to hear what it was. The automated voice sounded eerily like the one on the actual Bank of America customer service line. The voice asked me to type in all 16 digits of my debit card which of course, did not. HOWEVER, I can see how people would fall for this!
Please spread the word about this scam and if you ever receive a text alert that fraud has been detected on your card, call the actual number of your bank that is on the back of your card to find out if it is legit.