I was left a voicemail from a phone call from a personal phone number saying that he was from Wells Fargo 401k Plan and that they received a change in the status of the account.
I'm not sure if this is a phishing attempt.
I can log-in and everything seems fine. From my understanding I could keep the funds in the account.
When I call the phone number from another phone I have, I am greeted with "Thank you for calling Empower. Your call may be recorded..."
Was it scam call?
They already have your business, that is why they can call to get you to switch to a different product that will get them more $$$.
So 'legit' but a sales call. Which I treat with the same love as ALL sales calls.
Yes, they always call recently severed employees to try to upsell you on customized help with managing your 401k It’s a 1% fee. There’s no obligation and you can manage it yourself if you feel comfortable doing so. I left WF and personally love Empower—I think it’s user-friendly and it has a good menu of low-expense index funds (which is all you need). I’m in my 40s and aggressive so go with 25% each large, mid, and smallcap index funds; 20% international index; and 5% emerging markets index, with semiannual rebalancing,
I was let go last Feb. and got the same call. I ignored it and a short time later moved my money to Fidelity, as Empower su-ks.
First, spoofing the Empower ANI is very simple for scammers, it's a no-loss proposition since the caller ID say's the call is from Empower. It helps the ruse.
Second, if you call Empower back you will get Empower. There's no way they hacked the switchboard to route your call back to them. Your phone shows Empowers number because that's what number they told your phone it was coming from. It's why the number matches what's on Empower's website.
Third, be sure to talk to someone from the fraud area at Empower. They will want to know.
The only reason I know how this goes is that someone attempted to pull the exact same style scam on me (refunding money through Zelle, lol), and I kept them on long enough to catch a flaw in their script. They expected me to have a savings account, which I don't, so it became obvious they weren't from the customer service area because they didn't have access to view my accounts. They called me early in the morning, so it took me a bit to wake up and catch on, but once I did, I hung up, called my bank, and specifically talked to the fraud department to both ensure I didn't lose any money, and that Zelle was prevented from being connected to my account.
@ab Oh, you should call them, but I think you can. Just don't quote me on that; call them. I don't really know the details, because I just moved mine out completely.
I really just meant they know your status changed and they want to sell you a "managed" plan.
So they want to manage my money for a %1 fee?
Is that a fee that beets deducted from the 401k?
I had thought I could leave it as is.
Its likely legitimate. They want to manage your $ for 1% fee. The folks I spoke with were in different regions and seemed like they work from home.
Interestingly, they are affiliated with Pershing, which is BNY. Didn't WF move to Empower not long after Shart was brought in to start his reign of te---r?
@a2 and these are or were employees
Simple , go to empower website , get their phone number and call.
This applies to all company you do business with. Always go to their main website and call the number listed in their contact .
Suspicious, but if you’re using their managed fiduciary services/planning, they do reach out once in a while. Haven’t been clear what they’re selling, unless they’re trying to find out more info about you.
It’s not a scam call. I mean scammers are good and all but for them to simulate Empower in temporal proximity to your escapepodding is far fetched. You see he called from a “personal” number but then called and got Empower. I think you meant you got called from a direct line (which might have been a cell).
Seriously? Call the freakin' phone number listed on the site....