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When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

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Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#11

Post by blurr »

pwg wrote: post #6
blurr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I asked the caller to give me a bank number to call back, to which she replied that they don't have a dedicated line for that purpose (???) and that I had to physically go to a bank to get it done. I'll be changing banks for sure :/

> Yes, I asked the caller to give me a bank number to call back Don't do this either. If the caller was a scammer, they can give you a number that would call them back, and now they have you "hooked" because you think you've called your bank, when you really called the scammer back. Call them back on a number printed on your statements or a number you retrieve, independent of this caller, from the bank's website.

Understood, thanks!

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#12

Post by GianFabien »

I treat all unsolicited calls asking for personal information as scams.

Scammers can spoof calling numbers to make it look like it came from your bank. Basically everything they say on the call should be treated as being fraudulent. The scripts have been tailored to use a variety psychological tricks to fool you.

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#13

Post by Terr_ »

GianFabien wrote: post #12

I treat all unsolicited calls asking for personal information as scams. Scammers can spoof calling numbers to make it look like it came from your bank. Basically everything they say on the call should be treated as being fraudulent. The scripts have been tailored to use a variety psychological tricks to fool you.

Yeah: Any legitimate institutions will have no problem giving you information (like an extension-code) that you can use to re-contact them back via official channels. (This does depend on not being tricked by going to a fake website with fake contact-info, of course.)

Anyone who threatens you with fines/arrest/whatever for ending the call early is a scammer.

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#14

Post by AStonesThrow »

JojoFatsani wrote: post #7
blurr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite possible that they do this for their online customers— it's a reputed bank here. I'm just using the bank's credit card and don't have a bank account with them, so I don't have access to their banking app.

That seems strange. There should be a portal for the credit card somewhere. Anyways. Remember, you are in charge. You can always say you need to hang up and call the branch. If the service issue is serious, it can be handled at the branch or via an officially published bank phone number. Trust no inbound call.

I've been contacted by my clinic before, by a nurse who's following up from labs or something. And it's tricky, because they need to be cagey for HIPAA reasons. A lot of times, a clinic leaving voice mail to confirm an appointment won't actually say what the appointment is for or who it's with, because that's giving away too much info. The nurse calling me needs to confirm that she's got the right person, so she asks for my name and DOB right off the bat.

I call it "authentication détente", because both sides of a phone conversation are no longer trustworthy enough to bootstrap a trusted connection. I say, just use some authenticated messaging on the Internet instead.

It is not uncommon for the fraud department to reach out to you when their heuristics have flagged possible fraud on your account or card. They will quiz you about your most recent transactions. They already know who you are. They shouldn't need to ask you about PII, just transaction details.

But it's helpful if you can recall what you've been doing with that card. You will always have the option to contact them via the number published on your card, but time is of the essence in catching fraud, or helping to clear a legitimate transaction.

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#15

Post by TowerTall »

AStonesThrow wrote: post #14
JojoFatsani wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems strange. There should be a portal for the credit card somewhere. Anyways. Remember, you are in charge. You can always say you need to hang up and call the branch. If the service issue is serious, it can be handled at the branch or via an officially published bank phone number. Trust no inbound call.

I've been contacted by my clinic before, by a nurse who's following up from labs or something. And it's tricky, because they need to be cagey for HIPAA reasons. A lot of times, a clinic leaving voice mail to confirm an appointment won't actually say what the appointment is for or who it's with , because that's giving away too much info. The nurse calling me needs to confirm that she's got the right person, so she ask…

> It is not uncommon for the fraud department to reach out to you when their heuristics have flagged possible fraud on your account or card.

Which is something they should do but if they do that through a phone call the wise action is for you to hang up and call them back using their main switchboard number.

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#16

Post by genocidicbunny »

pwg wrote: post #6
blurr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I asked the caller to give me a bank number to call back, to which she replied that they don't have a dedicated line for that purpose (???) and that I had to physically go to a bank to get it done. I'll be changing banks for sure :/

> Yes, I asked the caller to give me a bank number to call back Don't do this either. If the caller was a scammer, they can give you a number that would call them back, and now they have you "hooked" because you think you've called your bank, when you really called the scammer back. Call them back on a number printed on your statements or a number you retrieve, independent of this caller, from the bank's website.

At most, you can ask if there's an extension you can dial after you called their public number to skip the phone menu. But yeah, otherwise, the same principle should apply here as with any user-input fields -- do not trust them.

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#17

Post by mig1 »

I had an incident with a debt collector once(UK), they call me saying I had some pending parking tickets to pay and asked for my address, DoB, etc to confirm it was me, I refused and asked them to tell me the details they had, they refused.

This kept going on for about a year, the legal limit they can chase a debt, so at that point they gave in and share the details and as it happens, it wasn’t me. Don’t even own a car, which I mentioned multiple times.

Anyways, I’d never share my details over the phone if I’m not fairly certain who’s in the other side. This company was legit but had very suspicious tactics.

Re: When banks call to verify your details how do you know the call is legitimate?

#19

Post by killingtime74 »

willcipriano wrote: post #18

I don't pick up the phone for unknown numbers so I wonder what the plan would've been for someone like me.

They ask you to call them back. They ask you to go to the website to lookup the number yourself.
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