Whoever it was then hung up.
I immediately called 611 on my iPhone and waited six or so minutes to talk to someone at AT&T. They informed me, as I suspected, they NEVER call using the customer's phone number, and will NEVER ask for any portion of the customer's SSN. They only call from an AT&T number which is obvious on an AT&T device. It was a scammer phishing for my SSN and other identifying information.
Also, my girlfriend has had THREE of her credit card accounts receive requests for NEW CARDS to be sent to addresses out of state in the past two weeks. This is the result of that 143 million customer hack of Equifax. In each case, the credit card companies called her to check with her AFTER sending out the new cards. This included department store cards! Why not check BEFORE letting the horses out of the barn? She's had to put a credit hold her accounts and now also on the titles of her several properties she owns. . . and has gotten a Lifelock membership. I've done the same because my data was compromised as well. Damn Equifax!
I put a credit freeze on all three credit reporting agencies for my Mom.
How do you put a hold on a property title?
I got a credit card in the mail that I didn’t sign up for and absolutely didn’t want. I called immediately and got it cancelled, signed up for one of the credit monitoring services immediately afterward (NOT Equifax, thank you very much).
Also, my girlfriend has had THREE of her credit card accounts receive requests for NEW CARDS to be sent to addresses out of state in the past two weeks. This is the result of that 143 million customer hack of Equifax.
They compromised half the country’s credit and what was the punishment for the massive screwup at Equifax? Virtually nothing. The idiot that was in charge of IT security at Equifax should be in jail.
Double Damn Equifax.
Never ever answer your phone, cell or landline, when the caller # or caller ID shown says it is you.
Such calls are made using VOIP - voice over internet protocol - the kind of calls you can make with applications like Skype and Magic Jack devices. Experienced techies using VOIP methods are EASILY able to make it so the caller sees the incoming call as from whatever number in the world the person making the call wants them to see.
There is no doubt that even many of the political and advertising robo calls you get do not really come from the area codes and phone numbers those calls are identified with. Even more and more of those outfits are trying to mask where they are really located.
Lifelock is the holy grail for hackers. Just wait until they break into that.
The issue, surely, is that keeping track of identities is the legitimate function, first, of the state and federal (birth certificates and driver’s licenses being state, passports being federal) governments. The government has to know who is and who is not a person of interest, a fugitive, etc.Keeping track of identities is also, most routinely, a necessary and legitimate function of any bank. And also, comes to that, a brokerage account.
Now all of a sudden we have the credit card issue, and online financial transactions. And Apple ID, and email addresses.
It seems like the banks should have the function of verifying id locally. If I present at the bank, the bank should be able to verify my ID and certify it to any other user such as any credit card company. And there is a legit function for a LifeLock - but inherently, the database which Lifelock generates is the richest of targets for hackers. And I take it you register with LifeLock without presenting physically to a LifeLock employee to be vetted, suggesting the possibility that the ideal way to steal an identity completely is to get a Lifelock account in the name of that identity.
>> I got a phone call today which said it was from ME, using my own phone number. When I answered, a voice saying it was from AT&T announced that my phone account was “being flagged for security purposes” and then asked “Please provide us with the last four digits of your social security number.” I said “Like HELL I will!”
Whoever it was then hung up.
I immediately called 611 on my iPhone and waited six or so minutes to talk to someone at AT&T. They informed me, as I suspected, they NEVER call using the customer’s phone number, and will NEVER ask for any portion of the customer’s SSN. They only call from an AT&T number which is obvious on an AT&T device. It was a scammer phishing for my SSN and other identifying information.
EXACT same thing happened to me. I took the EXACT same steps.
If the FBI can spare some time from the Trump-Russia investigation, I’d love for them to put some effort into ending these scams.
Best FReegards,
g