Another scam phone call alert; this time, the bank name’s a clue

| Safety | West Seattle news

If you haven’t already heard a warning about this bogus call – we’ve heard citywide-media reports about it, and Lola says she got it today:

Just got the weirdest phishing phone call. It’s a robo-call saying “This is Washington Mutual. We’re calling to let you know that your debit card has been locked. Press 1 for more information.”

Since there’s no such thing as Washington Mutual, I hung up and called Chase. No problem with my debit card. It was a phishing call. Might want to alert folks to check with anyone who might fall for this.

Good point – even if you know you wouldn’t fall for it, if you have potentially vulnerable friends or relatives, make sure to warn them.

Dc March 9, 2011 (10:08 pm)

I got the same call today. It was from a local #.

kte March 9, 2011 (10:26 pm)

My partner had the same call today.

SJ2 March 9, 2011 (10:29 pm)

My partner got the same call. Weird.

shed22 March 9, 2011 (10:36 pm)

I am getting them as well . . . from a local zip. Text scams, as well.

Don’t be fooled.

cjboffoli March 9, 2011 (10:41 pm)

Dc: They can call from anywhere and spoof the Caller ID. They might have even been off-shore somewhere.

Beth H. March 9, 2011 (10:57 pm)

My phone rang this afternoon, and as is my custom, I looked to see who was calling. My screen said “216”! I didn’t bother to answer it.
Last time I got a call like that and happened to answer it, it was a robocall.

Sounds like there’s a new round of phishing going on!

visitor March 9, 2011 (11:02 pm)

got the same call, but they said they were from Chase.

Craig H March 9, 2011 (11:05 pm)

I got that one *twice* on my cell phone today; caller ID showed a different toll free number each time.

Fritz March 9, 2011 (11:06 pm)

Got the same call this evening. Called Chase, they told me it was scam they have been hearing about lately.

JanS March 9, 2011 (11:16 pm)

was on KIRO news tonight, so it’s going around…

Kathy March 9, 2011 (11:37 pm)

I was sitting at my computer today and it called on my Skype account! So nothing is safe. I blocked and reported to Skype but have found other Skype users have gotten the call too.

Aaron March 10, 2011 (12:34 am)

Just got a robo-call at 12:30am too, asking for my card number. What kind of idiots are doing this?

silentinseattle March 10, 2011 (2:37 am)

Yea I got the same call yesterday morning. I had a BECU one about two weeks ago. Sounds like us WA citizens are on the target. Good thing we’re not clueless…

littlebrowndog March 10, 2011 (3:34 am)

My husband got one on his phone, and while in a meeting I missed a call from “615”.

Barbara March 10, 2011 (6:24 am)

Yes, I recieved this vm and 2 text messages from a bogus bank.

sc March 10, 2011 (7:51 am)

My call was to my cell phone that I usually have turned off. As soon as they said Washington Mutual I hung up. The return number was “216”

Curious March 10, 2011 (9:26 am)

A few of my coworkers had the call too. It says : Press 1. So she did. The call hung was then disconnected. Not sure what to think of that.

RB March 10, 2011 (11:42 am)

Got a call from this ph# 206-336-7191 yesterday with the same MSG (and I never had WM account) and googled the number and waht I found out is that the # is pretty well-known as Spam/Phishing ph# that MANY people from everywhere like Nashville, DC, NY, CA, and myself are irritated and annoyed by. Complaints have been accumulating since 2006, I believe. How annoying!

JEM March 10, 2011 (12:50 pm)

I also googled the 206 number (i think it was same as RB posted) and it did say that it was often associated with phishing but also that it is a legitimate (at times) Skype number. My call didn’t name the bank, they just said MasterCard. I hung up!

MercyMoi March 10, 2011 (8:23 pm)

I just got the same call on my cellphone. It’s annoying because I’ve managed for almost two years to bypass telemarketers by using my cel as a primary number. As soon as the robot mentioned WaMu I laughed (really??).

Suz March 10, 2011 (10:01 pm)

Mine was from Washington Mutual and it was in a creepy computerized voice saying that my debit card was deactivated. To reset the pin, press 1. I hung up. They called once yesterday, then again today and immediately after calling me they called my husband. The number showed up as 999-216 in my call list and the name Arsenio or something similar showed up on the caller ID.

I called Chase to report it but they were clueless.

Brhi March 25, 2011 (3:59 pm)

Has anyone gotten one that they knew your account number and social security number? I have several friends that got a call saying they owe a Advance Pay Center X amount of dollars and then they spouted out their info and asked them to verify it.

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