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Complaint

0
Christine
Country: United States
These people just called my 17 year old son.  They had his SSN#, DOB, Address, Email Address and his Debit Card Number!!!!!!!!!!!  How do they get all of this information?????????  And to be calling a MINOR!  COME ON GOVERNMENT STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!

Comments

  • 0
    And with all that..
    they couldn't even take his money.  All they could do was call him, and attempt to use that information to convince him they were "the government" in an attempt to con him into sending them money.

    Our information and id security is only as strong as the weakest leak, which is a systematic flaw, but that's not why you use banks to keep your money safe.  Just having your information doesn't give every crook in the world the right to take your money.

    If you find an unauthorized charge, under federal law (FRB Reg. E or FCBA), if you file a timely dispute (within 60 days of the statement showing the charge), your bank can reverse the charge and yank it out of the account where it went.  Even if the crook managed to walk off with it, that reversal works up the chain and whatever bank was foolish enough to give him an account gets stuck.
  • 0
    As for where they got the information..
    | 3 replies
    Three possibilities:
    1)  Someone was real sloppy, and posted that information to a webpage or file findable on the web, where these creeps are always looking for information they can use.
    2)  There are dark side markets where id information is bought and sold, although these cheap con scams are probably too cheap to buy it.
    3)  If you son ever applied for some online "loan", even if he never got it, those sites typically collect that information and sell it to "lenders" some of whom are these scammers.  Also some of those "loan" sites are fake, set up by scammers.
    • 0
      The type of information they have .. replies to As for where they got the information..
      | 2 replies
      looks like it might be the sort obtained in connection with school records, including applying online for college, maybe opening a bank account, or maybe paying online for a drivers license renewal.  Any database hacking/id theft notices from institutions he might be connected to of those sorts of institutions?
      • 0
        Another possibility.. replies to The type of information they have ..
        | 1 reply
        4)  Hospital or medical billing account records.
        • 0
          And.. replies to Another possibility..
          5)  obtaining copies of credit reports from one of the CRAs through online access, including setting up a "credit monitoring" service account.  Any suspicious charges via the debit card recently?
  • 0
    The problem with handling this..
    by enforcement, is that these scams are typically run from overseas, often India, Pakistan, or the middle east.  It's not practical to track them down in other countries, and modern telecom technology with both cheap and anonymous cell phones and VoIP let any crook anywhere in the world run these scams in total safety.  Who are they going to target? The US, of course.

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