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New ID Theft Scam Hits Town
jbulger@journalnet.com
POCATELLO -- Police are again warning of a new round of telephone scams in which victims are asked to divulge personal information which will allow unauthorized access to financial accounts. Pocatello Community Services Assistant Kim Ellis said Friday that the latest swindle involves callers claiming to be from the victim's financial institution, and insisting that financial accounts have been compromised. The callers ask for information to verify the victim's identity, including social security and bank account information. Ellis said the scammers often seem legitimate because they have just enough publicly-obtained information to appear authentic. What they're trying to do is get the private information they don't have.
Rick Cheatum, ISU Credit Union vice president of marketing, said individuals should never give out information over the phone. "Financial institutions don't make unsolicited phone calls," Cheatum said. "We don't need confirmation of your financial information. We already have that. What these people are fishing for ... is the information they can't get any other way."
Cheatum said ISUCU has received approximately six reports recently from members who received calls from people claiming to be with the credit union's security branch. The most common victim in these scams are the elderly, he said. Older citizens are often intimidated and are not as savvy about Internet security. Both Cheatum and Ellis cautioned that credit reports can be obtained by third parties, providing enough personal information about a person to enable a scammer to convince victims they are agents of financial institutions.
"The people getting these call really believe they are talking to their institution," he said, "and that's where the problem comes in." Ellis said part of the vulnerability of seniors stems from the pleasure they get from phone calls.
"The highlight of their day is when the phone rings ... and the mailman comes," he said. Ellis' comment was borne out by Pocatello resident Emma Kuykendall, 85, who received a scam phone call on Thursday.
"A lot of us older people can be talked into things so easy," she said. "A lot of us are lonely and we need a friend, so that friendly voice is just wonderful." Older she may be, but unwise to the ways of the world she is not. Her scam artist started out with a common scare tactic.
"He said, 'Your confidential information has been breached and we need your account number so we can give you a new account number.'" Kuykendall told the man she does not give out that information over the phone. Undaunted, the man continued, telling her if she did not have her information handy, he would wait for her to gather it. Again, she told him she didn't deal with people over the phone.
"He said, 'You'll have to deal with us sooner or later,'" she recalled. "They were really naughty when I said 'no.'" Kuykendall hung up on the man, called Zion's Bank and confirmed the call did not come from them. She then called law enforcement, telling them the substance of the conversation, which she had written down, as well as the phone number which showed up on caller ID. The number appeared to be a local number. That, like the caller's professed identity, was false.
Ellis noted that many of the scammers are able to alter their caller ID numbers in a process called spoofing. Even though the calls may originate from as far away as overseas, their phone number appears to be from the same area code they're calling, thanks to computer chicanery. Kuykendall's caller was not a foreigner, adding to the illusion of his authenticity. "This guy sounds just like you and I, just like he was right here in my neighborhood," she said. "No accent at all." By John Bulger
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