Got called by a scammer (tried to fake local accent but was unsuccessful). Said from Wells Fargo Fraud department. Wanted my credit card number to validate I was I and said had two flagged charges - one from Ama....on and another from overseas.
Long story short, during the conversation I gave scammer fake CC number. He stated this was not the correct one. The scammer had my mailing address, and the first 6 digits of my CC. This is concerning. So I afterward called Wells Fargo from the 800 number on my CC. Explained to the banker on the other end what had happened. He started laughing and said, ok why are you calling us? I stated because scammer had a lot of my ID info and that my CC was likely compromised. I said how is it that a scammer can - IN REAL TIME - validate my CC? Clearly they were logging into Wells Fargo somehow and validating. Banker said "we don't care about them, we don't have enough manpower to follow them, all we care about is you". So I gave up and asked my account be flagged as compromised - he generated new CC request for me and that was that.
However - since when does WF not care they are allowing scammers to attempt to take control of our accounts? It was the most amazing (not in a good way) conversation I've ever had with Wells Fargo.
And for this guy to state baldly "we don't have enough manpower" was absolutely concerning.
This is what you get when cut cut cut is the mantra. Customer service? Seems to be trending down.
14 replies (most recent on top)
You can enter for fraud alerts if odd charges on your
corporate card. You will be notified if you sign up.
If you work at Wells Fargo I can see why we need to reduce headcount… there is some dead weight to get rid of.
The first 6 digits of any card number are the BIN - Bank Identification Number, though Visa is moving to 8 digit BINs. You can Google the bins for most issuers. It's good you requested a new card, your card number is likely out there somewhere.
But with all of the layoffs and reduction in risk measures, why would you think wells would care? If it's not a massive loss that makes it into the news, they don't care.
I've gotten called before and the caller id said "wells fargo". for those who think you can screen....really? How? if the data in front of you indicates wells fargo won't you want to answer it?
Reading the tale, it seems to me that the important bits are:
1) scammer had address
2) scammer had first 6 digits of credit card
3) scammer was able to discover card number given was not accurate in real time
4) wells fargo banker stated "we don't have the manpower" oh man that one? sheesh
5) wells fargo banker didn't apparently care other than to get new cc ordered
All these things smell like data breach, whether at WF or some POS machine. But, one would think WF has a huge security operation and THEY should care, right? Apparently not? Reading this leaves a really bad feeling about WF and financial security.....
I don't think you nailed the intent of "long story short"....
@b3 scammers don't usually get that info straight from the banks. It's from all the online purchases or whatever else you do online.
If Wells (and most other banks) cared about keeping their customers' personal information safe, they would not offshore so many jobs, especially positions that have access to said data. Our information will continue to be ripe for the taking while banks focus on how not to be held accountable.
Could have told them to hang on while you transfer their call to your local police station. They would have hung up right away.
You could’ve just hung up instead of wasting your time and our time with this post.
In this day and age, all calls are scam calls. Even friends do not call. They just text or whatsapp.
Always call screen. Never answer any calls except from family.
charlie here, we don't have time to chase scammers and we keep them in the abroad as self defense. We are currently focused on how to layoff the crowd sitting in US and increase our pay in the top level
Hilarious that you don't think that your entire life is out on the dark web already. There's nothing anyone can do about that but stay vigilant and trust no one.
OP you are way off base here.
Cards are compromised by your usage and numbers being sold on the black market ... not by people hacking into WF databases. Your info is out there all over the place.
Per @a2 the first six digits aren't unique, and scammers can easily take a number someone gives them over the phone and run it on transaction and know it's fake. they do that to grab as much $$ as fast as possible
Two things. The first 6 numbers are pretty standard across all credit cards in the same company. Secondly he was trying to use it in real time, if it gets denied he knows it’s not your card.