10/02/2021
BEWARE, FRIENDS: I almost fell victim to a very sophisticated debit card scam. Here's how it goes: you get a call, the caller ID is your bank. The guy says he's from the fraud dept, calling about your debit card ending in ----(the 4 correct numbers), and asks if you've been traveling, reports 2 suspicious charges that happened at out-of-state stores (Lowe's and Walmart). You say nope, wasn't me. He says they'll send you a new card. He knows your address. He knows both of your phone numbers. He sends a verification code to your cell and asks you to read it to him. THEN HE ASKS FOR YOUR PIN NUMBER, so he can deactivate it. That's where I said "no." But he has an answer for my suspicions: he says look at the number I'm calling from, it matches the number on the back of your card. It does! But still, I handed the phone to Bob, who said "let us call you back," and he hung up! I reported this to my bank's fraud dept, who said WE WOULD NEVER ASK FOR YOUR PIN NUMBER. (And immediately cancelled my card.) They also said this is the new scam, they're hearing about it a lot. Tell everyone!
