On November 08 I reveived a phone call from a gentleman who was obviously reading his script from a piece of paper.
"Hello, I am call from GSI Services. Your name has appeared on an approved grant list published by the federal governemt. You have been approved to be processed for a federal grant in the amount of $6,000.00. There is only one stipulation to this grant money, it is not to be used for gambling or vacationing."
The individual continued to dail some numbers, record our phone conversation, and attempt to pry person banking information from me.
The good old excused to telemarketers came in awfully handy. "Gee you know, I don't have that info right now, my wife has the check book and she is at work." Well so I thought..
As the conversation continues, the man is asking for my bank routing number and seems to be aggrivated that I am not falling for the scam. This was all fine until he read me my checking account number. How this was obtained, I do not know and he was not willing to share. But, there it was, out on the table now, he had my account number.
I cut the conversation short after he informed me that I would be receiving a debit from my account in the amount of $298. I informed him that would not be happening. He told me they already had my account information and that was as good as authorizing it to happen.
I immediately contacted my credit union, who stated right off the bat that the area has been hit with this in the past couple of days. They had 16 calls just this morning. Although they stated they could not freeze my account, they did state that if I came in first thing in the morning, that it would not have a chance to be processed.
So, we decided that I would close my existing account, which ruins $70 worth of checks I just received, and open another.
BE AWARE! I was informed by the bank that the bank routing number is easy to get a hold of even if you don't give it to them. This seemed to be the only piece of information that he was missing to completely clean out the last of my last paycheck.
So, looks like the jokes on them. They will have to continue to look for others to take money from.
I also contacted the local paper, and the Washington State Attorney Generals Office. They happy to recieve my reported.
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. Sometimes having less is alot more than someone helping you have alot less.
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