prize winnings
Complaint
bits
Country: United States
Got a call from someone claiming to be from homeland security stating that they had intercepted a envelope from Readers Digest with a LARGE check being sent to me. Said that I owed $2,475 to have it sent on to me. Gave me a name of an alledged prize coordinator for Readers Digest who also told me that I would have to pay the amount. Both were very convincing and promised to try to help me defer the charge and would call back. In the meantime I checked with BBB and was told this was a scam. The number I was given to call the man from Readers Digest turned out to be for Paetec Communications Inc.and I also found that this man did not work for the Digest, even though he said he did. I also found that there was another party that had been given the very same story I had . Right down to the same amount of money to the case number for Homeland security. These guys are doing some shady things!
Comments
Paetec is a telecom company, and it looks like one of their "customers" is using their phone service to run this racket.
Contact Paetec to report the phone number as being used for fraud and extortion.
Honestly I do not know who he represents or why he was calling me, but I would be extremely wary of this caller. After several minutes of trying to politely end the call and the development of an emergency situation at work I had to hang up on him.
I also very recently noticed charges from my checking account from somewhere in New York that I had no knowledge of. The charges where for $12 and some change.
1) Cramming scams, where some sleazy merchant (often those "advertized on TV" overhyped junk) passes customer account numbers to a "marketing partner", who then either calls to try to deceptively obtain "authorization" for monthly charges for some worthless "service", or even skips the phony "authoriization" calls and just starts charging.
2) Fraudulent "magazine subscription" marketing, attempting to use some sales call as cover for charging victims whether authorized or not. These sleazy US marketers appear to buy sucker lists complete with account numbers.
3) Bank "marketing partner" fraud, such as deceptive selling of "credit protection" or other "insurance" to bank customers, If you have notified your bank that you "opt-out" of all third party marketing, as provided by GLB Act, it would be illegal for your bank to hand off you account information to these sleazy scammers.
4) Foreign scammers, often in Montreal Canada, or India, who buy US consumer sucker lists, often targetting elder victims for worthless "medical discount card" scams. These often show up with complaints of deceptive telemarketing attempts, accompanied by other complaints of fraudulent charges without even any calls.
5) Foregn scammers telemarketing fraudulent "services", like this "computer repair" or "antivirus installation". These appear to originate in fraudulent Indian call centers. Several Indian call center scams have shown evidence of illegal purchases of sucker lists complete with account numbers, typically in the details of consumer complaints reporting strange calls attempting to "sell" something, followed by charges without disclosure of the card number by the consumer. Often the calls include deceptive scripts aimed at "guiding" the consumer to say partial card number or id information, trying to fake a "recorded authorization".
Make sure your bank blocks your card number to prevent further fraud and theft.
Also from this number 855-477-7393. They kept calling me, my sons wife and his mother in law. Looking for him. Saying they were from the courts. Funny when I get any type of call from someone important there is a number that shows up, not private or unknown. Comes to find out this one also is a scam. Been reported to the FBI.
I want to know how do these people get our cell numbers in the first place.