Some dude with a thick Indian accent and poor English says he is Citizens Bank and told me that I was behind on payments. Red flags and alarms immediately go off in my head - Foreign caller? (check!) Talking nonsense shyt about an account that I do not have and a bank that I do not use? (check!) The scammer immediately becomes evasive when I ask for details about what payments and how much I am delinquent? (check!) Since he disturbed me on my nice evening while I was cooking, I decided to toy with him for another 15 minutes before he shouted profanities at me and I laughed and told him rude stuff about his mother. Moral of my story: If you are a Citizens Bank customer, this may be a valid call, or your call could still be this same Indian scammer spoofing the fake Caller ID number. If you are not a Citizens customer and wondered why you got a call, welp, that is why they call it "phishing" - scammers robo-dial thousands of numbers and they hope to phish for gullible targets. And always remember this: scammers can spoof a fake Caller ID name and number faster than you can change your underwear. I am still amazed at the number of people who claim that a scam call is valid just because the Caller ID display looks legitimate, or if the scammer says your name. Marketing databases with millions of phone numbers associated with names and addresses are easily available for both legitimate businesses and scammers to use. Just because a caller knows your name, address, or names of relatives means absolutely nothing since scammers easily obtain that information to make the call sound legit.

March 19, 2021

Don’t have an account and they’re bothering me calling my cell phone on the Do Not Call list

December 3, 2020