Two phone calls today.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I answered the second one.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 302 area code.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 It was an automated system claiming to be the Bank of America fraud protection department.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 The automated system wanted me to verify my social security number and address.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 My eyebrow raised, I got the tinfoil hat out of my wallet, and I prepared to put it on.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 “Not quite yet,” I told myself.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I hung up the phone.<\/p>\n
I got my laptop out and checked my e-mail.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Two e-mails, both claiming to be from Bank of America’s fraud protection folks.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 The URLs check out; not a phony URL, but a Bank of America subdomain.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Hm, wierd, I thought. \u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 They want to verify some transactions for an account number that doesn’t look familiar to me.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a phone number in the e-mail.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I called.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Big phone system, kept me on hold for like 9 minutes.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Kept reminding me that my call is important to them.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 It felt like I was talking to a bank.<\/p>\n
Nice-sounding guy answered the phone.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 He asked me to verify some information.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I gave him some.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Billing address; no big deal.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I told him I was calling about an account number that didn’t look familiar to me.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 He said Bank of America is merging with MBNA and I’ll be getting a new credit card number.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 This was it.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I hit the Google while we talked and verified that Bank of America is, in fact, merging with MBNA.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Ok, this seemed legit.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I told him I wanted him to verify for me that he’s actually Bank of America.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 He told me I could call the number on the back of my card if I was nervous.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 That allayed my suspicions.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 He asked for some more information.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I gave it.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Then he asked for the names of some of my closest relatives.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Alarm bells went off.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I dove for figurative cover, got my tinfoil hat out and put it on, and nervously said, “I, uh, don’t think I’ve ever given Bank of America that information.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 It shouldn’t be in my account record.”\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 He said that Bank of America is a big organization with the capability of finding out such information.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I hung up.<\/p>\n
When I talked with the real Bank of America people (I actually called the number on the back of the card), they said the whole thing sounded fishy.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I verified my last few transactions, with information flowing both ways.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 We determined together that I hadn’t given out enough information for anyone to access my accounts, so they’re not in any direct danger.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 But I was, and still am, scared.<\/p>\n
These people are good.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 They got my personal cell phone and e-mail address, crafted some very convincing-looking e-mails, web sites, and phone calls,\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 treated me professionally like a bank would, knew the latest in banking business news, and reminded me at all turns to keep my personal information safe.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 They even had a phone tree, for goodness sakes, that contantly reminded me that my call is important to them.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 If these people are setting up a fake banking operation, they’re doing a darn good job of it.<\/p>\n
I thought I was the last person to fall victim to a scam like this.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 But the scams are getting better.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Please be careful, friends.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 If you have any questions, initiate contact with your bank by making a phone call to a trusted number or by going DIRECTLY to the bank’s web site.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 That means not clicking on a link in an e-mail and not calling a number you’ve never seen before.<\/p>\n
And don’t forget your tinfoil hats!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two phone calls today.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 I answered the second one.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 302 area code.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 It was an automated system claiming to be the Bank of America fraud protection department.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 The automated system wanted me to verify my social security number and address.\u00c3\u0192\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 My eyebrow raised, I got the tinfoil hat out of my wallet, and I prepared … Continue reading My identity was almost stolen – again<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,18,15],"tags":[56,57,55,54],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer","category-culture","category-misc","tag-bank","tag-identity-theft","tag-scam","tag-tinfoil-hat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdZlL-64","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}