Four Attempted Scams Today

[Ghel]

We seemed to have an unusual number of attempted (and one possibly completed) scams today.

The first two were pretty simple pretext calls, within 20 minutes of each other.

Call One
I handled the first one. The woman said she was with some lending company and wanted to verify funds on a check. We normally are ok with doing this, so I asked for the account number off the check. It was several characters too long, but I keyed it in anyway. Nothing found. So she gives me a routing number, and it's our correct routing number. I tell her again that it's not one of our account numbers. Then she asks if she can verify it by social security number. I tell her no. She hangs up.

I mean, I have no problem verifying information on a check, if it's obvious that the caller has the check in front of them. But nobody puts their social security number on a check!

Call Two
A coworker handled this one. It started off the same - the caller wanted to verify funds on a check. Account number didn't match, so Coworker asked for the name. We don't have any customers by that name. But just to cover all bases, Coworker gave the caller the phone number for the main branch, so they can double-check. Not as odd as my call, but combined with the prior call, it was enough to make us all suspicious.

The Camper
This customer came in wanting to send an international wire. She had bought a camper on eBay, and the seller requested she wire the funds overseas. The story she told was that the seller lives in the UK, the camper is in NY state with the seller's son, who owns a shipping company that will ship the camper to the purchaser.

Every bit of that set off red flags, so the head teller tried to warn the customer that it could be a scam. But the customer insisted, so we sent the wire for her. Apparently, the seller (or at least, the information the customer gave us) wasn't on any of the lists that we have to check against, so the wire went through.

Then, an hour later or so, the customer has second thoughts and calls trying to stop the wire. Too late. If it is a scam, she's SOL.

Door-to-Door Scammer
A woman parks her large panel van near the door and walks into the bank. Asks for the manager. Offers to seal our parking lot. Cheap. Manager asks for a quote and explains that she'll have to forward it to the main branch, where they'll make the decision. Ok, she'll go measure. Comes back in less than 5 minutes later. (We could see her through the large windows the whole time. She never so much as pulled out a tape measure.) Hands the new accounts employee a sheet of paper. Says that the quote is for this week only - they won't be here long. I don't think Manager will bother passing that one on.

I need a vacation.

[Tama]

As far as no one using their SSNs on checks, you'd be surprised how many old gomers do it.

I saw two sets of SSNs on one check, for this one older couple...

[csquared]

Quoth Tama

As far as no one using their SSNs on checks, you'd be surprised how many old gomers do it.

Use to be common practice, back when SSN was a worthless piece of identification. If you wrote a check, the store would want your address, phone #, DL# and SSN. Might as well print it on the check.

[Bright_Star]

Once you wire transfer funds to someone, it's as good as gone. So it's in your best interest to wire transfer money to people that you know & trust. Too many stories out there of people wire transfering money to outfits that claim that you just won a big lottery & all you have to do is wire transfer the "winner fees" & you'll get your "winnings". IF you really do win something, then they just subtract the taxes from it & other fees & give you the balance. IF you're required to send money to get money then it's a SCAM.

[MoonCat]

Oh yeah...the camper thing? SCAM. Every red flag in the book. Sorry to say, that woman lost her money, 99% sure.

[Ghel]

On the camper, yeah, we tried to warn her. The only thing more we could have done is refuse to send the wired. But at the time, she insisted she was confident it was legit. It sounds to me like she's out $6,000.

As for SSNs on checks, I can't believe any bank would allow that any more. It's too much of a risk for identity theft, which would be a huge PR hassle (if nothing else). We try to get customers to remove their driver's license numbers from their checks, even, and leave it up to them whether to put their phone numbers on the checks.

[PepperElf]

Says that the quote is for this week only - they won't be here long.

Well that right there is a worthless offer then.

Even if it was a legit one (which I'm sure it wasn't) it means the bank won't have anyone to contact if the work turns out to be shitty.