Scammer 101

One day, I had just begun my second semester of college and was laying down on my bed in my dorm room. I had been on my phone visiting a few sites applying for a loan. I suddenly received a call about a loan offer from one of the sites I visited. I was happy to say the least, I knew I didn’t have the best credit out there, so I saw it as a great opportunity. I was struggling with expenses, and had already taken out student loans. The guy on the phone told me that I would have a flexible payment plan, and more than likely even loan forgiveness. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

He asked me for some information, and said that the first amount of money he sends, I will need to send it back as a pre-authorization and then he will send the actual amount of my loan. He continued to ask for more information, however something struck me when he asked for my social security number.

No real company will ask you for your social security number over the phone. It was scammer 101, I did not give it to him and instantly hung up the phone. I realized I made a huge mistake, I had given my name, address, checking account and routing number to a scammer.

I decided I had nothing to lose but to just keep the money that was in my account already, what’s the worst that can happen, right? Yeah.. things definitely took a turn for the worst. I saw that my “bank” was calling me, I figured they saw what was happening and wanted me to come in or make a report. The lady from my bank told me that I need to send the money back immediately or they will call the police. When I tried to explain what happened, the lady would not listen and started to threaten me. I knew something was terribly wrong, when did the bank begin to act very rude and threaten people? Then, it hit me that the scammers managed to clone my real banks phone number?!

Once again, I hung up the phone and told myself I will not answer anymore calls for the day, unless it was from my family. When my roommate arrived home, I told her what was going on and she agreed it was definitely best to not answer any numbers I do not not recognize and inform my bank.

The next day, I logged into my bank account to check if the money was still there. My jaw dropped to the floor at what I had seen instead. All of the money was gone, including “MY” own. My account had a negative balance of hundreds of dollars, I could not fully wrap my head around what was going on. I immediately started to tear up, “ The scammers out-smarted me”, I said in my head.

I had indeed learned a valuable lesson, and in doing so I have a couple of tips for anyone out there who may need it (hopefully not).

1. Never give out any personal information about yourself to anyone over the phone, especially your social, because it can lead to identity theft and many other issues.

2. Ensure the websites you visit are credible, look for reviews.

3. If someone asks you to send them back money first, it’s a scam.

4. If your bank threatens you.. they’re not your bank. Hang up and dial your bank number yourself.

5. Always inform your bank of any issues you have, they will be able to help you more than you think.