Telephone Scam Making Rounds: Public Cautioned Not to Give Out Social Security, Bank Account Routing Numbers
Posted on: Saturday, 18 February 2006, 06:00 CST
By Scott Waltman, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.
Feb. 18--A telephone call received by a woman who lives just outside of Aberdeen should have area residents on alert for a scam, a Brown County Sheriff's Department deputy said Friday.
The call was from a company that called itself Distinct Advantage, a business listed on the Web site ripoffreport.com, Deputy John McQuillen said.
McQuillen said the caller told the woman she was contacted because she was a good banking customer and, as a result, was entitled to $400 in free airline tickets and $100 in gasoline. But the woman had to verify her address and bank account information, McQuillen said. When the caller asked for a bank account routing number, the woman would not give it out, he said.
"I know somebody's going to get hit by them," McQuillen said, referring to the Distinct Advantage scam.
The call from the company was received Friday morning. McQuillen said the caller pressed the woman pretty hard for information on her bank account. When she hung up, she called law enforcement.
Similar scams have been reported in the past. While not all of the callers claim to be from Distinct Advantage, the premise of the calls is the same -- they offer a prize or award that seems too good to be true in return for personal information. Law enforcers say things such as bank account routing numbers and Social Security numbers should never be given over the telephone.
Generally, McQuillen said, the sheriff's office doesn't hear about such problems until somebody's been victimized. Friday's report was unusual because that didn't happen, he said.
Ripoffreport.com is an Internet site where consumers can report and learn more information about suspected scams.
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Copyright (c) 2006, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)
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User Comments (2)
| 2. |
Posted by fjolla on 12/28/2007, 16:59 hello |
| 1. |
Posted by Marcy on 01/16/2007, 08:07 I had this scam happen to me, how to I correct it? |
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