Phish Warning, FWIW

I apologize if this post sounds a little Chicken Little or Nervous Nellie, but I've thought about it for a while, and figured I'd just get it off my chest.

Just so you know, there seems to be a new phishing scam going around. This one involves the telephone, not email. Here's what happened to me. (I use BankXYZ as the name of the bank in the following, for obvious reasons of obfuscation, but it was a real bank, one with whom I do have a credit card.)

I got two automated phone calls in the past week or so, both saying it was BankXYZ and they needed to talk to me about my credit card, and "this is not a sales call." They gave an 800 number.

The first time I called the number, I got an automated answer, which began by asking me to punch in my credit card number, just as always happens when I call my real credit card company for whatever reason. Fortunately, I'd had a couple of cups of coffee, and I didn't fall for it. I just hung up. But the call and the answer were pretty professional-sounding, and had I been a little more distracted, I wonder if I might have gone into zombie mode and just punched in my number.

I finally got around to calling BankXYZ, using the number on the back of my card. They said there was nothing wrong with my account, and that they had no record of having called me. The customer service rep agreed with me that it was probably a scam, but she didn't sound like she was ready to call out the troops.

I now wish I had written the phone number down. Maybe I'll try to call my phone company and see if they'll let me have a list of the 800 numbers called from my phone in the last month, and then I could think about who I might report this to.

Anyway, pass the word. There definitely seems to be a new variant of phishing going around, and it's not as obvious as most email spam. I heard from a friend out west that something quite similar just happened to him, too.

The next time I get the call, if I do, I'm going to punch in a made-up number, just to see what happens next. Hope I don't inadvertently use yours! Come to think of it, it would probably be best if you sent me a list of your numbers, just so I can be sure not to use any of them.

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[Update:2006-10-19 14:00 EDT]:

It turns out that it wasn't a scam. After a bunch of phone calls, I found out that my phone number is listed on a credit card account, a Sears account which is managed by one of the giant banks.

The account that's generating all the phone traffic, however, is not my account. As I have only had my current phone number for a relatively short while, it seems likely that the guy who had this phone number before me moved and neglected to inform Sears of his new number.

Thank you for your patience. We now return you to our regular blog, which is typically not nearly as riddled with paranoia. Neurotic, obsessive, and misanthropic? Granted.