Phishing by Phone
From my friend Raoul:
It's not bad enough that daily I get email that promises me compensation
for helping the relative of some South African official smuggle a bunch of
cash out of the country or that I've won a lottery or that my eBay account
has been compromised. Now, I'm getting phishing phone calls.
The first call came through at about 8:30 from a guy with a heavy (east) Indian
accent. About the only thing I picked up was lottery and $500. I told the guy to
take a hike and hung up - as expected no caller ID.
An hour later I get another call. This time it's a woman with an Asian accent.
She asks for "Raoul" and when I say this is he, she proceeds to tell me that
my bank account has been locked and that I won't be able to get any money.
I ask her who she is and she says that she is with my bank. What bank? She
names off a bank but not mine. I tell her that its not my bank and that she needs
to work on getting the scam right. As I'm hanging up I hear her saying "I know
how to do..." On this one I get a caller ID but I suspect that it is stolen cell phone.
I'm going to start recording my calls.
It's not bad enough that daily I get email that promises me compensation
for helping the relative of some South African official smuggle a bunch of
cash out of the country or that I've won a lottery or that my eBay account
has been compromised. Now, I'm getting phishing phone calls.
The first call came through at about 8:30 from a guy with a heavy (east) Indian
accent. About the only thing I picked up was lottery and $500. I told the guy to
take a hike and hung up - as expected no caller ID.
An hour later I get another call. This time it's a woman with an Asian accent.
She asks for "Raoul" and when I say this is he, she proceeds to tell me that
my bank account has been locked and that I won't be able to get any money.
I ask her who she is and she says that she is with my bank. What bank? She
names off a bank but not mine. I tell her that its not my bank and that she needs
to work on getting the scam right. As I'm hanging up I hear her saying "I know
how to do..." On this one I get a caller ID but I suspect that it is stolen cell phone.
I'm going to start recording my calls.







Comments on "Phishing by Phone"
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Matt Tetrault said ... (Thursday, February 16, 2006 4:13:00 PM) :
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Ted Demopoulos said ... (Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:18:00 PM) :
post a commentHey Ted,
Once again, your name came up related to an article I'm working on. I wrote this for Wednesday's issue. Check it out, let me know what you think.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/02152006/business/87971.htm
-Matt Tetrault
Matt,
Very interesting!
I hadn't heard of the IRS fishing scam, but it makes sense (from a criminal point of view).
Phishing scams keep getting more and more sophisticated. Supposedly online fraud is more lucrative than drug smuggling now!