Thread: Be warned - looks like a new banking scam

Today i had a phone call from a very personable gentleman who told me he was from Visa and Mastercard security. He claimed to that there had been two recent suspicious transactions on my card, providing my address as evidence that he knew who he was talking to. He said he would not ask for any details but would transfer me to the bank, checking which bank, which I inadvertently told him. He transferred me and I got the familiar introductory speech and options from from my bank, and I chose the card and security options. This got me a woman who started very reasonably.

However, I was now getting a bit suspicious, and I insisted that I would call back, so I was certain who I was talking to. I did so, and was immediately aware of a difference in the familiar spiel when the call was answered - a warning that they are short staffed and to expect delays. The options were also very slightly different. By this time I was really getting suspicious. Eventually I got to talk to a human, and found that indeed, the original call was a scam.

The thing that set my alarm bells ringing was that the original caller gave my street address - as far as I was aware, the bank only had my mailing address (and I confirmed this in the call I originated).

You all need to be very cautious of this scam, it was very professional, and if I had not had my suspicions aroused by the address issue, it is likely that I would have eventually given away some information.

We have our land line on DND unless my wife is having a phone consolation with one of her doctors & it is put back on DND as soon as she finishes . We also don't answer any interstate calls as the only people we know interstate are in our contact lists of our mobiles. We mainly get scam messages as text or Emails & that is about 20 each day combined.