Damn phone phishers...

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

I got a call today from someone at 727-541-0001(mods, this number is listed as disconnected: it is not the personal number for anyone),
who immediately said I had won a $1,000 shopping spree based on my outstanding credit. (Yeah, right. My credit's improving from where it was 10 years ago but
I wouldn't say it's "outstanding" yet.)

They had my last 4 digits of my CC#, my home address, and my cell phone number. While I didn't say those were correct, the person on the phone didn't give me
a chance to respond.

It was unnerving, to say the least.

As I sat there, trying to tell the guy I'm not interested, the guy went into this fast-talking legalese about how I've automatically signed up for some crap like
"American Family Health Care" for $25 a month unless I decline.

:wtf:

After he hung up, I did a quick search for the above number online (it was "disconnected or no longer in service" when I tried
to call it) and found a multitude of links on the subject:

Google search for 727-541-0001

So I called my CC company and, just to be safe, changed account numbers. My CC company (not one of the big ones) was more than
happy to accommodate me. They've been extremely helpful in the past and very non-predatory. (Unusual for a CC company these days)

Just a friendly reminder to watch yourself, and never ever ever ever ever ever give out your personal information on the phone if you can help it.
And keep track of all your CC receipts.

[NewWaveChick1981]

1. Hubby had a weird phone call on Friday

saying they were trying to collect because he'd won camera equipment on eBay. :wtf: Our number is unlisted, and the only way they could have gotten it through eBay is to say that they'd tried to collect on a particular item number and needed personal contact info. Hubby does a lot with eBay, but of course he had not bid on any camera equipment and told the person to fuck off and never call him again. The caller ID said it was an Atlanta-area phone number and the name Philip Nguyen showed up. Hubby contacted PayPal and eBay to alert them.

Hubby's eBay account was hijacked a couple of years ago by a Romanian scam artist supposedly selling camera equipment. I immediately noticed the password on his eBay account had been changed, because I was online when a password change email came from eBay. I saw that the hijacker had listed expensive camera equipment (of course it was nonexistent) under hubby's ID, so I used my own eBay ID to put $30,000 bids on the items to prevent anyone else from winning them. I got on the eBay live chat area, and within 30 minutes, we had this prick shut down. :D He kept emailing me saying he had the equipment and for me to send him Western Union payment, and I kept him going for a while, saying I needed proof of his identity to send p ayment. He sent me copies of his fake ID, and while I had the fucker going, he had no idea I had any connection to hubby's account. We got notification about three months later that Interpol had tracked him down and arrested him for fraud. :D He'd scammed a lot of people out of a lot of cash, so I'm glad he went down!

Electronic scams have been around a while, but it's a new thing to do eBay phishing by telephone. :yoiks:

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

2. Glad to hear the scammer went down!

Good job!

:thumbsup:

[NewWaveChick1981]

3. Thanks!

Glad you had the fortitude to get your CC number changed. It's really scary to know they had your personal info right in front of them. I hope you don't have any more problems! :D

:hi: