Posted by BrendaTx on 1/13/06 7:31pm
Msg #88284

410-000-0000 on Caller ID - Said they were my... OT

410-000-0000 on Caller ID - Said they were my bank's check card people checking for fraud.

I have gotten these calls before and they were on the level. I know they did not come through this (410) telephone number though.

First of all, she asked my address to verify. Before I answered, I told her that I was not really comfortable in giving out any of my information and that I did not recognize the phone number on my caller ID.

She said "we have two branches. This one is in Maryland. If you are not comfortable talking to me, call the bank and ask for the fraud division."

Me - "Tell me the exact number to call."

Her - "look on the back of your card."


So...I called the number...there was nothing in my account to cause concern. Isn't that interesting?

So...I have done a check on this number online and it comes up in so many different places where it has been dummied in that I cannot figure anything out about it.

If you call the number it says it is an incorrect code. I just want to know if it is for sure an attempt at fraud...and if so, all you folks should make a note of it.

[Oh Great Texas Telecom Oracle...what do you think about this?]

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 1/13/06 7:48pm
Msg #88285

What a scam.

Here's one for ya. A certain bank that we do not have an account with called for my husband 3 days in a row. At the same time I was getting at least 3 calls a day from various lenders trying to sell me a refi. I got so sick of it that on the 4th day that this particular bank called I tore into them. "For the 3rd time we don't have a blanking account with your blankity bank so don't blankity blank blanking call me ever blankity again." click. Then they called my hubbys work (they got his work cell so they only talked to him). It turns out it was reguarding a credit card we had and instead of using the bank name on the card which was a subsidiary they were using the parent company name when calling. I almost felt bad, but didn't.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 1/13/06 9:16pm
Msg #88295

Brenda, You did the right thing. The call could have been legit, but personal info over the phone is no good. If there were really problems with your account, the bank would have, 9 times out of 10, contacted you via snail mail. I have recieved one call from my bank, however, when some person was trying to buy apprx. $3000 worth of music and DVD's at a music store in Sacramento, CA. Good thing the address they gave didn't check out. 410 is an area code for MD however. The reason why you see it in you ID is because that is what the caller is sending. It does not mean that it was their real number. A lot of my customers want me to program their database so that the outside world only see's the main number. I can send any alpha numeric numbers I want. We have special programming on our switches that sends the correct DNS to 911, however - incase of an emergency. We use separate routing for those types of calls and sometimes use separate trunks. A person from overseas could have called you asking for info. and could send whatever digits they wanted to. They can mask it so that you have no idea where the call is coming from. If they were making the call from or to one of my switches, I could tell you who and where that number came from. ;)

Reply by Jenny__CA on 1/13/06 9:52pm
Msg #88302

A couple of nights ago one of the local news stations aired a story of bank fraud similar to yours. Someone pretending to be from the bank would call to verify the checking account having the victims unknowingly provide the correct info.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 1/13/06 9:57pm
Msg #88303

ABC News story on bank fraud

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/CSM/story?id=1475360

Reply by Beth/MD on 1/13/06 10:50pm
Msg #88311

Re: ABC News story on bank fraud

Thanks for the information. This is the best way to protect ourselves.

Reply by BrendaTx on 1/13/06 11:33pm
Msg #88317

Thank you eXp - that's great info.

I now understand about the masked telephone number and how those can come up on caller ID.

You have to wonder why the fraud monitors would hide their phone number and cover it up with another one.

Reply by BrendaTx on 1/14/06 12:00am
Msg #88318

Different OT - Lady Bug Festival

My son took this picture. I did not want to start another OT thread but wanted to share the picture...if you like lady bugs, this will probably fascinate you a little.

http://www.robtx.net/gallery2/d/635-1/ani_ladybugs04.jpg

Reply by Jenny__CA on 1/14/06 12:27am
Msg #88320

Re: Different OT - Lady Bug Festival

"WOW!!!! They look close up!!!!"

My 8 year old's response. She wants to know how old your son is and where did he find so many ladybugs?

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 1/14/06 1:49pm
Msg #88385

My guess would be they only want those set of operators to make outgoing calls only, it take incoming. Thay may have a separate set of operators who get co's to sign up with them, such as other banks. We offer non-DID numbers to customers - DID = Direct Inward Dialing. The numbers can not call out of the switch or be called in from the outside. They use such numbers in elevators and such. The elevator can call the internal operator at 0 if there are issues.

That lady bug picture is so cool. Very well done. Lady bugs are supposed to bring luck. I think they are so neat looking. Is your son going to be a photographer?

Reply by Janel Nichols on 1/14/06 3:34pm
Msg #88418

If this was legit the bank name and correct number would appear. I was being harassed on my cell for a time and the number that showed up was: 123456789 in that sequence. I could not trace it. So I researched Nokia phones at the time when I had that phone and a link came up called: www.cellphonehacks.com.

So I put that number sequence in the search and sure enough it was there! They were using a bypass technique that allows you to make a phone call and it does not show up on your phone bill. Neither incoming nor outgoing. So it is completely untraceable. Finally I had to change my cell number. Then all of a sudden the number showed up again after I changed my number. So I called the cell company explained the situation and requested a password on my account so when I call or if someone else tries to get my info again they will have to know the password.

Evidently this person had to have known my social to get through. I suspected who it was; I just could not prove it because it could not be traced. One I put the password on. The calls stopped. Be cautious no matter what!!