718-683-3104 Phishing Scheme: Scam Telephone Number

While sitting at the computer today, my cellphone started ringing. Checking the caller ID, I saw that it said 718-683-3104. (called on Jan 17,2012 at 12:23pm).

Not knowing who this is, I picked up the call, to hear an automated message stating that my Debit card has been deactivated, and instructing me to press 1 to get more information.

I figured that this was a scam, but decided to press 1 to see what happens next.

I pressed one, which sent me to another message stating to press 1 to reactivate my card.

I warily pressed 1 again, and this time it instructed me to type in my 16-digit debit card number.

At that point, I hung up.

No, thank you!

I will not be giving out my credit card number to some random place that has not been properly identified!

This phone call was alarming, because it was hard to know whether it really came from a legitimate bank.

However, one of the suspicious aspects to this call was that they did not state which bank they were calling from, and I did not recognize the phone number.

Even if they did state it, they could be lying, and it is easy for a caller to show a legitimate phone number as well.

If you get such a call, the way to check for legitimacy is to hang up, and then look-up and call your bank phone number. Never give out your credit card information or bank information to someone that calls you. Do not give out the account numbers, or security code, or passwords, or any other information that they can use to steal money from you.

After hanging up, I did a search for this phone number on our old friend google search, and found a number of results of others getting such a call, which is clearly a scam. Don’t fall for it!

For more info:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-683-3104

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2006-11-26-phishing-usat_x.htm