My husband received a call just 20 minutes ago on his cell phone from a man who said he had our checking account information because we had purchased something with a check from one of their affiliate companies.
He asked my husband to verify our account number, so my husband asked me for a check book. He told me that the man on the phone was going to send us a free vacation voucher but he needed to verify our checking account information first. I asked him to find out where the man got our information and how he got my husband's cell phone number, since it is not on our checks and since both our home number and his cell phone number is in the national Do Not Call registry.
Also, I wanted to know why he would be calling my husband, because he doesn't even write checks! The man wouldn't answer the questions, so my husband asked them again. The man hung up. I was pretty upset, so I hit re-dial. The number was 727-683-1113. A woman named Barbara answered. I explained what happened, identified myself, and asked her the same questions. She said that one of their affiliates that we had done business with provided the bank name and that's how they got the routing number, but she refused to identify ANY of their "1700 affiliates".
When I persisted in questioning her about their source for our information, she hung up on me. I was pretty upset that my husband was actually going to cooperate with the guy that called. Thank God I was home and able to stop the scammers dead on!
People should NEVER give out what should be secure information over the phone. A legitimate bank is NOT going to give your banking information to anybody, and if there is a problem with your account, they will notify you by U.S. Mail and require you to come into one of their branches to resolve the issue. A legitimate company is NOT allowed to sell your information to anybody without your expressed permission.
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