Most Involved Bank Scam to Date

Today someone tried to scam me, and it was the most detailed scam I've witnessed personally.

First, I got an alert on my banking app to possible fraud, listing a transaction for $9.99 to some website asking if I authorized the charge. I had not, so I clicked no since the alert came from my actual banking app not some weird text message or email. The response from my bank said someone from the fraud dept would call me immediately. They did. I again verified the charge was not legitimate, they shut off my card and issued a new one that I will receive in 5-7 business days. Standard affair so far and everything is legitimate.

Where the scam comes in is what happened an hour later. The scammers piggy back off my initial interaction with my bank, which was generated off of their fraudulent charge. They call me, spoofing my bank's fraud phone number, so it looks to me like the fraud department calling me again. The woman on the phone tells me there's a new charge but on my checking account this time, not my credit card account. She specifically references the earlier event when she says this, and I've already spoken to the fraud department once today, so initially there are no warning signs going off.

She proceeds to ask about a charge to Ticketmaster, which I say is fraudulent. Then she says "it appears this charge came from an iPhone 17 in Texas and you live in Florida, have you given anyone your account information?" No, I haven't. Then she tells me someone has been added to my accounts, gives me a name and asks if I've authorized a new person on my accounts. I have not. Next she tells me they've attempted to wire $500 to someone and asks me if I've authorized that? I have not. Finally, she asks me to log into my account and verify my account balances and review my most recent charges to see if there are any other charges I need to challenge. There are not. So far so good, it FEELS normal.

She tells me that it appears someone has gained access to my accounts, and they need to shut off all of my accounts (credit card, two checking accounts, two savings accounts and a money market account). She will set up a new account for each one. Any recurring charges I have set up on any of these accounts will need to be set up again by me with each vendor because I'll have all new account AND ROUTING NUMBERS. Uhm, what? Routing numbers aren't account specific, they are institution specific. Minor red flag, I note it but chalk it up to the Saturday staff not being the top stars and her maybe mis speaking.

Next she asks about accounts on third party apps that I might have linked to my bank accounts. In my mind, she's warning me and suggesting I remove my accounts from said apps. She mentions Apple Pay and asks me to open the app. I open it and say "There's nothing set up here, I've never connected it to my banking account, so it's ok". She tells me to click on set up... I ask why. She says that she needs me to set this up so I will have access to my funds while my accounts are transferred, or else they will have to mail me a check for the balance on my accounts and it will take up to 30 days. Giant red flag.

I tell her I'm feeling a little weirded out now by the whole experience and that I should just call them back myself. She says "Let's end the call, and I will call you back. You can check your call log and see that I'm calling from XXX XXX XXXXX, the fraud/lost/stolen card number on the back of your debit card. We end the call, I check the log, it does appear to be the correct number. She calls me back, again tries to get me to set up the app. When I again say that doesn't feel right, she offers to let me speak to her supervisor. I say no, I think I'll just hang up and call you back instead. She "Then I will have to close your accounts and we will mail you a check." as her last ditch effort to scare me into compliance.

I hang up. I call my bank. They verify it was a scam and that, other than the initial charge on my credit card, there have been no breaches on my account. No attempted wire transfers, no one recently added to my account etc. She did say something interesting though... the woman from my actual bank said "They got lucky calling someone who just happened to have had a fraud attempt earlier in the day." It wasn't luck. They initiated that charge attempt. They piggy backed off the contact with the Bank and tried to make it seem like another instance of fraud. Planned, not random.