They say to always go with your first instinct. If I had obeyed my instincts, I may not be here typing a report right now.
This afternoon I received a phone call from some woman, claiming to represent "Simple Choice Benefits Service", saying I had been approved for a Master Card with a $2000 limit, and the ability to withdraw $500 cash from it thru ATMs, with an APR that would never go above 8%. There was simply a one-time enrollment fee of $249. I asked if the fee could be placed on the card's balance, and the woman said 'no', which I thought was odd. Since her company name was not familiar to me, I asked her when I had applied with them, and she said "3-4 months ago", kind of haltingly, and that she was affiliated with Mastercard. Well, I had over the past few months been applying to different credit cards, and Mastercard was one of them, so I let her continue her spiel.
The more I listened, it sounded too good to be true, but as a young person who has been turned down for car repair loans and all else simply because I have hardly a credit score at all (I've only had 1 card, for a total of 3 months so far), I was desperate for any credit offers. When she told me she was transfering me to the verification operator, the pause on the phone was very long, and I seriously debated just hanging up there, because I was starting to get nervous about the whole thing. However, some guy calling himself operator 347 eventually answered. We started the process, and when he mentioned that the card could not be cancelled, I became nervous and tried to back out, saying I wanted more time to think it over, and call back. I would like to look at the company's website and read more information on the card they were offering and what it's rules and regulations were, I told him. He said it was www.mastercard.com, and that this offer was very limited, so I should act now. Plus, I could cancel the card anytime after I received it (?).
While I had very serious doubts, like a complete fool, I gave him personal information, including my social security number, as well as my bank account information over the phone. The more I thought about the fact that I was being recorded and being asked to state "yes" in approval to having them charge my account by electronic debit, the creepier and slimier it felt, and I fell silent around the part where it asked for the bank's phone number, and my head kept telling me, 'just hang up now'. I paused for so long the operator started in - "Ma'am, MA'AM!"
But thinking a scam like this couldn't be so obvious, I went ahead and finished with the information. After it was done and I had hung up, I had a very sinking feeling, and immediately called their customer service number to say I wanted to cancel. The phone just rings and rings, or else it transfers me to an 'answering machine', which I am not even going to waste my time on. I came online and found this website, and read through all the reports on Integra, and Centurion. I think this is the same people, now using a different company name, because my experience is extremely similar to those of victims of Centurion and Integra.
After finding this website and reading up on it, I immediately contacted my bank to tell them what happened. They said they cannot put a stop payment on the transaction, because they are not sure how the scammers will do it (electronic debit, paper check, etc.) but as soon as it posts to my account and I alert them, they will dispute it. My other option was to close my account, but I currently can't do that, because there are too many pending obligations on my account that have yet to clear, so the earliest I would be able to close it would be a month from now. So now it's a 'watch and wait' game that is making me nervous.
However, I have one small prayer. When reciting my bank account information over the phone to Mr. #347, I accidently included some digits in the read-out that has now sufficiently jumbled my bank account number and routing. Hopefully, the sons of * will be too stupid to figure that out, and their attempts to glean money from my account will fail.
However, I still have to worry about my social security number. Are their numbers or bureaus I should be notifying about possible scams that will revolve around my stolen ssn?
Best of wishes to everyone suffering from these awful people - and I hope that I have been helpful in revealing these scammers' new name for scamming.
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