Re: "Envelope on Door" Identity Theft Scam Attempt

Author	All Replies
JALevinworth @embarqhsd.net	reply to Snowy Re: "Envelope on Door" Identity Theft Scam Attempt said by Snowy: said by Whip: I'm actually thinking it may be someone that knows whoever's house it was left at because there have been no other reports. Why would it have been left at THAT house? I've had this in the back of my mind... I'd think it it's more likely to be not nefarious activity at all, just an unfortunate string of miscommunications than a scenario where the ID thief had a special interest or knowledge about the intended victim. BofA does indeed leave envelopes with a note to call on front doors, fences etc... in certain situations. When (if) the client calls them BofA does have a verification process that must be successfully completed prior to them discussing whatever matter needs discussing. An imaginative or really high strung customer could mistake the verification questions as phishing questions. e.g., BofA: What's the last 4 digits of your SSN? Customer to Police Officer: They wanted to get my SSN! I refused to tell them, then called you! Police Official to BofA: Do you ask for the clients SSN? No, we only verify the last 4 digits etc... "The officer contacted Bank of America corporate security and confirmed that this is fraud". I wouldn't be dismissive this is just some high strung customer, etc. (Don't we want people to be suspicious and not considered "high strung"?). Besides, we'd have to assume the police officer didn't investigate the phone number wasn't BoAs but is just saying don't call it on his gut? For lack of information here, we can only guess. But with the sheer amount of BoA regular phishing attempts casting a wide net over BoA and NON-BoA customers alike - We don't even know that the potential victims here are even BoA customers to begin with. THAT could have been first their clue. This area is FLUSH with banks - BoA is not especially prominent among the fray. BoA mortgage? Not that people couldn't have them, but they aren't special. I dunno, but the fact that it was claimed to be from BoA made my ears perk up alone because of it's favored use among phishers. -Jim
	to forum · permalink · 2013-01-13 04:37:03 ·
Snowy mIRC unix.ro UnderNet Premium join:2003-04-05 Kailua, HI kudos:6 Reviews: ·RoadRunner Cable ·Clearwire Wireless	said by JALevinworth : said by Snowy: said by Whip: I'm actually thinking it may be someone that knows whoever's house it was left at because there have been no other reports. Why would it have been left at THAT house? I've had this in the back of my mind... I'd think it it's more likely to be not nefarious activity at all, just an unfortunate string of miscommunications than a scenario where the ID thief had a special interest or knowledge about the intended victim. An imaginative or really high strung customer could mistake the verification questions as phishing questions. I wouldn't be dismissive this is just some high strung customer, etc. (Don't we want people to be suspicious and not considered "high strung"?). Yes, of course. What I meant to get across was the possibility of the culprit having a knowledge of the home occupant -vs- the entire incident being a miscue between occupant>>>>police>>>>BofA. Of the 2 possibilities, the latter would be more likely to occur, IMO. The other possibility is that the incident occurred as it was reported & that is the overwhelming probable truth by an enormous margin. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ btw Originally a CountryWide number800 669-0102 is a legit BofA phone number.
	to forum · permalink · 2013-01-13 14:55:36 ·
JALevinworth @embarqhsd.net	said by Snowy: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ btw Originally a CountryWide number800 669-0102 is a legit BofA phone number. Interesting. I know, Snowy, you have a method of verifying phone numbers through some official listing (not just by calling it and assuming the message isn't lying), so your word is good as done. I called the number anyway through a fax service. A messages goes off saying they are Bank of America, then an announcement concerning tax statements. After that it states, "We are debt collector".. blah about recording the call, and then prompts you to enter your full account number including leading zeros. Alternate method if you enter nothing, asks for you to enter your social. Also: I think some of the people who had been posting about being harassed by this number (15 times a day), may also had been receiving spoofed calls from this number too, besides possibly legit. (Can't see BoA doing the calls 15 times a day thing some are claiming). Who knows. -Jim
	to forum · permalink · 2013-01-13 18:08:38 ·
Snowy mIRC unix.ro UnderNet Premium join:2003-04-05 Kailua, HI kudos:6 Reviews: ·RoadRunner Cable ·Clearwire Wireless	said by JALevinworth : Also: I think some of the people who had been posting about being harassed by this number (15 times a day), may also had been receiving spoofed calls from this number too, besides possibly legit. (Can't see BoA doing the calls 15 times a day thing some are claiming). Who knows. Would BofA intentionally call someone xx times in one day? Absolutely not. Could BofA's autodialer call someone xx times in one day. Absolutely yes. I don't know which software BofA uses for it's autodialing but I am familiar with auto dialing systems where it's not too difficult to screw up the configuration/DB's resulting in what's commonly referred to as 'phone bombing'. Even tough phone bombing generally refers to a malicious use, it does happen in legit systems from time to time. As minute a chance that BofA would be responsible for the unintentional phone bombing of one of its customer, that would be more likely to occur than someone receiving a legit call plus a spoofed call from BofA in the same day or even month for that matter, IMO. The more I think about this, the more I wonder about the veracity of the original article.
	to forum · permalink · 2013-01-13 21:58:42 ·

Broadband Tech > Security > Scam and Phishbusters > "Envelope on Door" Identity Theft Scam Attempt