Phone Scams offering FREE Gas

I received a troubling phone call today. I answered, and a nice sounding lady asked for my husband.  I said he wasn’t home (most people are at work at 9 am), and could I take a message.  I forget the next round of exchanges, but I became the target.

Long story short, she wanted to “give” me free gas vouchers, worth $100. That’s  a lot of gas, especially for us these days. The gas vouchers last for a year.

I shouldn’t be so greedy. I stopped to listen.  All she had to do was confirm that we had a checking account. I told her we did. She then asked what the name of the bank was. I told her (she already had our mailing address). In the back of my mind, there are red flags popping up all over the place. How many times have you heard to not give out personal info over the phone, on line, etc? Was the info I gave out personal? She already had our name and address, and was wanting to know the name of our bank.

I recall repeatedly asking her who she was. She never gave a straight answer. Our names were on a list, we were pre-approved. I don’t know. I was trying to justify how they could give out free gas vouchers, plus she talked really fast.

So then she needs to verify that we do indeed have a checking account. Why is that necessary if you are giving me gas vouchers? What does it matter that I have a checking account. This should be the biggest red flag of all. But I continued.

She asked the name of the bank. I told her reluctantly after asking a few more questions about who she was and who she worked for. Sounded legitimate. Then she read off a routing number.  “This is the routing number for your bank?” she asked. Of course, it was not. No where close. I told her I didn’t know what the routing number was. She said it was on the bottom of the check.

Now, I’ve paid bills online using this method. The first set of numbers is indeed the bank’s routing number. But I think once they have this info, they can find out more info.

I told her I was uncomfortable giving her the numbers over the phone, besides she could be a scammer! She said these numbers were there for anyone to see. I told her I would forego the vouchers for now. She argued a little more and said these numbers were public, that anyone could see them.  I still voiced my reluctance.

She hung up.

No goodbye, thanks, nothing. She hung up. I can’t believe I almost got scammed!

After a little bit of research, I called my bank and told them what happened. I asked them if the scammer could get any info with just my name and address. She said as long as I didn’t give out the numbers, I was fine. Whew. What a relief.

Funny how you can swindle someone using greed. I am glad my sensibilities kicked in.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/gascoupon.asp