America loses billions each year to phone scams, fraud
A man pretending to be a Wells Fargo Bank employee made a suspicious call to a woman in Nibley on March 14 to gain information concerning her ATM card.
Lt. Kim Cheshire with the Cache County Sheriff’s Office said the caller asked the woman if she had recently been using her ATM card. Cheshire said the caller told her the bank had no record of her card usage and then proceeded to ask her if she had signed the back of her card.
“The woman told the caller she hadn’t signed her card but he hung up before he could gather account information,” Cheshire said.
“We really haven’t noticed a rise in the number of phone scams in Cache Valley, but they seem to come and go in waves,” Cheshire said. “Especially when the weather starts to warm up, we start to see all kinds of scams for driveway and roof repairs targeted toward the elderly.”
Rita Garry Esposito, a public relations officer for Wells Fargo Bank, said according to the American Bankers Association, the banking industry loses $12 billion to $15 billion dollars per year due to phone scams and fraud.
“We investigate all fraud situations and cooperate with the proper authorities to resolve any fraud issues reported to us,” Esposito said.
According to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection Web site at www.commerce.state.ut.us/dcp/education/phonetips.html, seven areas have been identified where fraud can occur and do the most damage to the consumer’s wallet. Some of the most common telephone scams include free prize offers, charitable solicitations, travel offers, investment fraud, “900” numbers and credit repair schemes.
Fran Giani, director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, said most states have not seen an increase or decrease in phone scams. However, she said telemarketing has always been a way for people to take advantage of others.
According to the Utah Division of Securities Web site www.securities.state.
ut.us/educate.htm, Americans lose an estimated $10 billion each year to telemarketing fraud.
Giani said the Utah Division of Consumer Protection does its best to try to resolve phone scam issues when they are reported.
“Two telemarketing bills to protect consumers were enacted in 1990 and are still in effect,” she said.
Giani said they have been attempting to modify the bills, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult because the telephone is an important marketing tool for legitimate businesses so everyone is in need of protection.
“We just want to resolve the issues consumers face when they pick up the telephone in their own homes,” Giani said.
Giani said the biggest challenge is that consumers don’t know where the calls are coming from. However, she said every telemarketer should legally be registered through the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
As far as bank account fraud, Cheshire said, “A bank will never call for your personal account information. Your bank should already have that information so there would be no reason for them to ask for it over the phone.”
Cheshire said he imagines people are scammed in Cache Valley on a daily basis. He said if people don’t want to be victims of phone scams they should be wary of any suspicious calls.
“You should never give out any personal information over the phone, especially if you didn’t initiate the call in the first place,” he said. “One more good rule of thumb is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Cheshire said any suspicious calls should be reported to the Cache County Sheriff’s Office.