The Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont said Monday that it had received complaints that scammers were attempting to access personal information from Bank of America customers through phone calls.
Tom Bartholomy, president of the Southern Piedmont BBB, said his organization received four such complaints involving Bank of America customers on Monday.
He said the complaints centered on scammers calling Bank of America customers to tell them their accounts had been frozen because of unusual activity. The scammers then tried to fish account numbers and other personal information out of the customers, he said.
A Bank of America spokesman said Monday that it doesn’t appear that the problem is widespread.
While it’s not unusual for the Southern Piedmont BBB to receive three to four complaints a day on bank-related scams, those complaints usually affect different banks, not just one, said Bartholomy, of the BBB.
Bartholomy said consumers should always be wary when a caller purporting to be from a bank doesn’t seem to know personal information that should already be on file with the bank, such as an account number.
Monday, March 25, 2013
BBB says scammers target BofA customers
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
11 comments:
I got one of those phone calls. It will show UNAVAILABLE when the call comes in. It sounded very suspicious when they said my account had been frozen and I hung up fast. Figured it to be a fraud right away. Folks BEWARE.
I received a phone call, email, and text this morning also from BofA. I called the number on the back of my card and spoke with a representative who directed me to call an 877 number that I received in the email.
The person at the 877 number stated that BofA had been advised of a data breach by a retailer who I had done business with recently. As a security measure, BofA put one of our debit cards on hold. BofA recommended that we cancel the card and they issue a new one, which we did.
That was this morning. After reading this article, I called the main customer service number on BofA's website. The representative transferred me to the Fraud Prevention department, who quite ironically over the course of the phone call, asked me for both my account number, debit card number, and full social security number.
After some back and forth and giving a little information as possible while still confirming I was who I said was, the representative confirmed that I had spoken with a legitimate BofA representative this morning, the possible fraud notification was authentic, and that BofA had indeed cancelled my old debit card and issued a new one.
I guess I am in the clear?
I would hypothesize that if the retailer was sizable enough and local to Charlotte, it is possible that a number of local residents conducted business at this establishment, and that if there was indeed a data breach, being that BofA is headquartered here, quite a number of residents would have received the same notification at the same time.
I had a computerized call today saying I had my card stolen and deactivated. They said I could reactivate by providing the account, exp date and pin. I gave bogus account. I then got a verification my card had been reactivated. It was obvious from the start it was bogus. Be careful.
I just got a call tonight at 10 pm from this scam Unknown number and of course I did not put any numbers in except 1-9 then I hit pound and hung up.
Had the same call yesterday on my cell tel. I don't have a BOA debit card and the caller ID said unavailable. Sounds wide spread to me.
I got the same call as well on my work cell phone. It was an automated woman's voice. It showed up on my Blackberry as 000000000. I didn't know how to report it since the number didn't come up. Definitely widesrpead.
And I don't have a BofA devit card either.
Why is this any different than the scam BOA perpetuates on it's own customers every day?
I received a automatic phone call from 1406548518 claiming to be Bank of America debit card dept. saying my card was lock and to unlock it I needed to enter my 16 digit account number naturally as a banker my self I did not and called Bank of America they said it was a attempt to scam me.
Olga C
1-800-971-8053
Just got a call from these very OFFICIAL SOUNDING people. Said they were from Bank of America, and that there was a charge for $1,000's of dollars on my account from a computer store!
They called from an UNKNOWN NUMBER and then gave me 1-800-971-8053 to call back as their "Fraud Department". Thank goodness the number had a strange recording & i couldn't get through...they were FAKE and phishing!
Called my real bank number, from my bank statement not the # they gave me, and they said i had NO SUCH CHARGES. How can criminals like this get away with pretending to be a bank?? They sounded completely legitimate.
NEVER TRUST ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU or gives you a phone number to call back. Only go to the original company, from your own source!
ps – when I called the real Bank of America, they said 1-800-971-8053 is NOT one of their numbers. And they didn’t even care! They must get so much of these fake calls, they don’t even track them. Crazy.
Called here in California with a computerized voice saying my account was locked and to "Pres 1" to speak to an account representative. I hung up knowing it was a bogus call. What they won't do to grab your numbers, ientity and money. The scary part is many people never listen or learn and will give out their information. Main point. If YOU do not initiate the call to a credit card company, consider the call bogus! If someone calls, ask for their number and then call your credit card company with the number on your card or bill. No other number will do!!
last night i got a call 10:30 PM from BofA. It was a robo call that said my card had been locked. then it asked form my account #. Well, duuuh. I hung up and checked for the caller's phone #. it said 'unavailable'. my ex and one of my brothers are notorious for trying to get credit based on my info. i wish no harm to anyone else who is experiencing this problem. but i feel a little better knowing i'm not
Post a Comment