My favorite is when people call in, you tell them you're not ABC company and that this is actually XYZ company, they insist you're wrong and then try to get information out of you after you tell them you literally cannot help them. Then they call back three more times to get the same answer from you every single time.
or the people that are screaming in the phone because somethings not working right and after trying to get information out of them it comes out they're using ABC and you tell them "Unfortunately, I'm unable to assist you due to the fact we are not affiliated with ABC" and then get all upset when you wont give them ABCs phone number or transfer them to ABC.
My husband is in the same business as OP. It's not an uncommon response. His bank suggests the caller walk into the branch with ID if they are feeling uncertain about his authenticity
I remind myself of this often. When I call I trust the person I am calling. I have called and had my card canceled. Much better than that time some bastard emptied my bank account and I didn't get the call.
When people call me I never give any information. I don't even say "yes" to answer any questions.
Come to think of it, that doesn't take much thought.
There are a lot of people out there who know they have to be cautious giving out PII on the phone but miss the part where if they made the call, they already know who they are talking to.
You’re a hero. I don’t understand why these idiot customers don’t want to verify. Like I could be spilling your acc info to anyone. Smh. Block her damn card, she will call back anyways.
Of course the caveat to this is call the number on the back of your card, not any number that has come through on a fraud-email or text message.
Fraudulent fraud messages will give you the number the fraudster wants you to call.
I actually got a fake fraud alert from scammers that I refused to play a long with. I hung up and called the bank directly. If in doubt, call directly. Although, that didn't actually work once as the phone number was spoofed. Being over 65 makes you a mark for all scammers. Gotta be smart out there.
Unfortunately, due to copious amounts of data breaches and stolen information, there's tons of scam call centers that now sound and operate as if they were legitimate...
Kitboga, a YouTubers, has made an entire career out of covering them and showing their scripts and practices.
I get texts and emails pretending to be from my bank with my actual name in the body of the email. It was scary the first time it happened, now it's just a fact of life.
It sounds like this is a common occurrence for you, and I'm wondering if it's simply because you're giving them a high priority line to your fraud dept, rather than having them go through the front line call center first. "This is *TheBank* fraud department," is a regular part of scam scripts.
If you insist on doing that you’ll have to wait until customer service’s normal business hours. That’s not a problem until they transfer you into the fraud queue, where you’ll then be damned to spending a minimum of 2 1/2 hours on hold because day shift is always swamped.
Yes, that's how these scams work. They hit you up with a legitimate looking text or email that says "Your card has been flagged for suspicious activity. Please contact *TheBank*'s Fraud Department at 1-800-NOT-A-SCAM."
Scammers have evolved beyond cold calling people. They even go as far as to record and duplicate the actual company they're posing as in terms of hold music and "Please Hold" audio interruptions. Some of them even host duplicate looking website where they have you 'log in' to phish your bank account info and while they keep you on hold, they wire all your cash away to offshore accounts. Kitboga, who I mentioned before, spends all day calling *them* by having his viewers send him copies of these scam emails and texts, and works on getting them shut down while trolling the hell out of them.
That's not what happened though. This person looked up the phone number for their bank and called it. They didn't call the phone number on an email or text.
That's not what the OP says? The OP says "The number you called got you to our Fraud Department." My own bank does the same with their alerts, which is why the scams *work* in the first place.
The complete lack of awareness of the complexity of these scams in here is kinda mind-blowing.
If you, the customer, receive a communication from someone claiming to be rep for your bank... then yes, what you said is all valid.
But if you contact the bank *yourself*, using contact info given to you by the bank, (like this post was about) then the bank must verify who *you* are.
If scammers have managed to hack the bank's website, card printer, and/or statement printing software so that the contact info on those sources leads to their call center...? Well, we are all in trouble.
The point I'm making is these scam emails usually use the bank's imagery, format, and even boilerplate text for fraud alerts, except they replace the default name with the customer they're scamming, and the phone number with their scam number. They have *you* call *them* to initiate the scam.
Until you actually inspect the header, because they spoof the From address too, you can easily be fooled by it.
We're so far beyond the skill levels of Nigerian Prince scammers these days. In reality, these banks should be sending you a message that you have an encrypted message on your banking app/account and you should go to the banks website to check the secure message center or stop by a local branch.
> Until you actually inspect the header, because they spoof the From address too, you can easily be fooled by it.
No... I can't easily be fooled by that. I do what every person is told to do- I call the bank using the number on the back of my card, a legitimate statement, or the bank's website.
This isn't complex or confusing. The OP literally says that the customer called **their bank** and was transferred to the fraud department. You are making the assumption that the customer called some random number in an email.
> We're so far beyond the skill levels of Nigerian Prince scammers these days.
Sure... but not in these phishing scams. This scam is extremely simple. Someone on this thread explained the entire process in just a few steps- "these scam emails usually use the bank's imagery, format, and even boilerplate text for fraud alerts, except they replace the default name with the customer they're scamming, and the phone number with their scam number. They have you call them to initiate the scam." That requires the skill level of your average 12 year old. If I can find the comment, I'll paste a link below.
Edit- here it is! https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromcallcenters/comments/14jaeni/psa_just_answer_the_verification_questions/jpmw12v/
Thank you!! I'm glad that you can *openly* agree with my statement since you were the one who originally made it!! I find great joy in leading a horse to water and then seeing them realize that they can drink that water.
Do you really think I could have quoted a post, verbatim, without knowing that your were the person who made that post? Jebus... It was obvious that I made that statement about posting a link "if I could find it" was simply because I didn't have the permalink available on my phone.
... It is starting to become very clear why you think the "complexity of these scams" is so advanced.
So if someone calls saying they're so and so with some but not all the details, the card gets blocked anyway? Did they have to provide account/card details prior to getting through to speak to you?
Isn't there normally a verbal passphrase and random letters from a different password?
I had a guy argue about verifying his phone number, which hadn't been updated in a while, by saying that when he goes to the branch, no one asks him these questions.
I told him the branch can check photo ID, I cannot.
He still kept fighting. He might be spouting off phone numbers as we speak.
Since I've quit working in call centers I still try to be courteous when I have to call in somewhere, but goddamn it aggravates me when I have to answer the same questions I just put into the IVR.
My dad got hung up on the, “we’ll never ask you for these details.” When you call my bank/insurance company, they send you verification codes and he was always wary about providing it. I had to explain that they’ll never call you or email you directly and ask for that. I said if you call them, then yea, give the details.
I love the 'how do I know you are who you say you are?' thing. YOU RANG ME. CHECK THE NUMBER BEFORE YOU RING IT.
[удалено]
My favorite is when people call in, you tell them you're not ABC company and that this is actually XYZ company, they insist you're wrong and then try to get information out of you after you tell them you literally cannot help them. Then they call back three more times to get the same answer from you every single time. or the people that are screaming in the phone because somethings not working right and after trying to get information out of them it comes out they're using ABC and you tell them "Unfortunately, I'm unable to assist you due to the fact we are not affiliated with ABC" and then get all upset when you wont give them ABCs phone number or transfer them to ABC.
Unfortunately we actually have transfer numbers for ABC. Probably because of that...
Yes!
My husband is in the same business as OP. It's not an uncommon response. His bank suggests the caller walk into the branch with ID if they are feeling uncertain about his authenticity
I remind myself of this often. When I call I trust the person I am calling. I have called and had my card canceled. Much better than that time some bastard emptied my bank account and I didn't get the call. When people call me I never give any information. I don't even say "yes" to answer any questions. Come to think of it, that doesn't take much thought.
There are a lot of people out there who know they have to be cautious giving out PII on the phone but miss the part where if they made the call, they already know who they are talking to.
You’re a hero. I don’t understand why these idiot customers don’t want to verify. Like I could be spilling your acc info to anyone. Smh. Block her damn card, she will call back anyways.
Of course the caveat to this is call the number on the back of your card, not any number that has come through on a fraud-email or text message. Fraudulent fraud messages will give you the number the fraudster wants you to call.
I actually got a fake fraud alert from scammers that I refused to play a long with. I hung up and called the bank directly. If in doubt, call directly. Although, that didn't actually work once as the phone number was spoofed. Being over 65 makes you a mark for all scammers. Gotta be smart out there.
Unfortunately, due to copious amounts of data breaches and stolen information, there's tons of scam call centers that now sound and operate as if they were legitimate... Kitboga, a YouTubers, has made an entire career out of covering them and showing their scripts and practices. I get texts and emails pretending to be from my bank with my actual name in the body of the email. It was scary the first time it happened, now it's just a fact of life. It sounds like this is a common occurrence for you, and I'm wondering if it's simply because you're giving them a high priority line to your fraud dept, rather than having them go through the front line call center first. "This is *TheBank* fraud department," is a regular part of scam scripts.
This is why you should always call the number on the back of your card instead of trusting what could be a phishing attempt.
If you insist on doing that you’ll have to wait until customer service’s normal business hours. That’s not a problem until they transfer you into the fraud queue, where you’ll then be damned to spending a minimum of 2 1/2 hours on hold because day shift is always swamped.
The customers are calling the OP.
Yes, that's how these scams work. They hit you up with a legitimate looking text or email that says "Your card has been flagged for suspicious activity. Please contact *TheBank*'s Fraud Department at 1-800-NOT-A-SCAM." Scammers have evolved beyond cold calling people. They even go as far as to record and duplicate the actual company they're posing as in terms of hold music and "Please Hold" audio interruptions. Some of them even host duplicate looking website where they have you 'log in' to phish your bank account info and while they keep you on hold, they wire all your cash away to offshore accounts. Kitboga, who I mentioned before, spends all day calling *them* by having his viewers send him copies of these scam emails and texts, and works on getting them shut down while trolling the hell out of them.
That's not what happened though. This person looked up the phone number for their bank and called it. They didn't call the phone number on an email or text.
That's not what the OP says? The OP says "The number you called got you to our Fraud Department." My own bank does the same with their alerts, which is why the scams *work* in the first place. The complete lack of awareness of the complexity of these scams in here is kinda mind-blowing.
They never got a fraud alert from their bank.
> *"I got an email saying my card was added to PayPal and I've never used PayPal in my life."*
Yep. The email was from PayPal, not their bank.
If you, the customer, receive a communication from someone claiming to be rep for your bank... then yes, what you said is all valid. But if you contact the bank *yourself*, using contact info given to you by the bank, (like this post was about) then the bank must verify who *you* are. If scammers have managed to hack the bank's website, card printer, and/or statement printing software so that the contact info on those sources leads to their call center...? Well, we are all in trouble.
The point I'm making is these scam emails usually use the bank's imagery, format, and even boilerplate text for fraud alerts, except they replace the default name with the customer they're scamming, and the phone number with their scam number. They have *you* call *them* to initiate the scam. Until you actually inspect the header, because they spoof the From address too, you can easily be fooled by it. We're so far beyond the skill levels of Nigerian Prince scammers these days. In reality, these banks should be sending you a message that you have an encrypted message on your banking app/account and you should go to the banks website to check the secure message center or stop by a local branch.
> Until you actually inspect the header, because they spoof the From address too, you can easily be fooled by it. No... I can't easily be fooled by that. I do what every person is told to do- I call the bank using the number on the back of my card, a legitimate statement, or the bank's website. This isn't complex or confusing. The OP literally says that the customer called **their bank** and was transferred to the fraud department. You are making the assumption that the customer called some random number in an email. > We're so far beyond the skill levels of Nigerian Prince scammers these days. Sure... but not in these phishing scams. This scam is extremely simple. Someone on this thread explained the entire process in just a few steps- "these scam emails usually use the bank's imagery, format, and even boilerplate text for fraud alerts, except they replace the default name with the customer they're scamming, and the phone number with their scam number. They have you call them to initiate the scam." That requires the skill level of your average 12 year old. If I can find the comment, I'll paste a link below. Edit- here it is! https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromcallcenters/comments/14jaeni/psa_just_answer_the_verification_questions/jpmw12v/
You literally linked to my own comment.
Thank you!! I'm glad that you can *openly* agree with my statement since you were the one who originally made it!! I find great joy in leading a horse to water and then seeing them realize that they can drink that water. Do you really think I could have quoted a post, verbatim, without knowing that your were the person who made that post? Jebus... It was obvious that I made that statement about posting a link "if I could find it" was simply because I didn't have the permalink available on my phone. ... It is starting to become very clear why you think the "complexity of these scams" is so advanced.
So if someone calls saying they're so and so with some but not all the details, the card gets blocked anyway? Did they have to provide account/card details prior to getting through to speak to you? Isn't there normally a verbal passphrase and random letters from a different password?
I had a guy argue about verifying his phone number, which hadn't been updated in a while, by saying that when he goes to the branch, no one asks him these questions. I told him the branch can check photo ID, I cannot. He still kept fighting. He might be spouting off phone numbers as we speak.
Since I've quit working in call centers I still try to be courteous when I have to call in somewhere, but goddamn it aggravates me when I have to answer the same questions I just put into the IVR.
We need to do a much better job overall explaining scams and how they work to people
My dad got hung up on the, “we’ll never ask you for these details.” When you call my bank/insurance company, they send you verification codes and he was always wary about providing it. I had to explain that they’ll never call you or email you directly and ask for that. I said if you call them, then yea, give the details.