Last Monday, John and I were working in a coffeeshop when I received a call from a normal mobile number. First Red flag - he used a mobile number, not from the bank's number. He started talking about my credit card info, he seemed so legit, he knows a lot about my info and credit card details. I will not talk about what he said that got me hooked into the call because that will reveal some information, but he seems so legit and professional, even though I saw the number before answering the call, I did not think bad about him (at first).
I'm the type of person who doesn't really want to be rude to anyone, so I just engaged and answered him politely. I know customer service representatives are just doing their jobs, I don't have to be rude to them, right?
There were a lot of misinformation about what I know and what he's telling me - 2nd red flag. But I was thinking maybe some things have changed, and I continued conversing with him. He talked a lot of gibberish about credit card and even asked me to confirm my account's username on the phone and leave him on speaker - which I am not comfortable doing. I whispered my username (because I was not comfortable) but he still got my username correctly, which was weird and I even expected him to ask me to repeat it since I did not say it properly.
Fast forward, he was now talking about passwords, I could not understand everything he told me, and I asked him to repeat what he said about passwords, at this time, I was now thinking about the mobile number that he used to call me. He kept prompting me that I will be receivig a text and I should tell him the numbers.
I got a an OTP text to reset my password! When I received the text and understood what was happening, I went cold and my hands shaking! I even got back to him and said "No, no... This isn't right. I'm sorry." before I ended the call. He called me twice and I declined all the calls.
I even apologized to the scammer! Dammit! I was so shaken up, and told John everything. He asked me to update my password immediately. But I was not satisfied, I couldn't get it out of my head. What would've happened if I didn't read the text message and gave the numbers to him.
I've received a lot of these kinds of calls in the past, none were successful, but I'm so worried that if I receive a call, I might get tricked in the future. I am not confident in being able to say "No," and to be rude if someone calls me from the "bank."
I will also stop supporting organizations, we think these info came from one of the organizations I was supporting. I updated my credit card and they have been calling me so much just to get my new credit card number via phone call - I tried talking to them that I wont be giving them my new credit card info via phone call unless they have a website that I can go to and the website has a secure way of getting this new information. The call dragged on as they tried to convince me while I tried to explain to them very nicely why I wont, John got mad and told me to stop answering. And that happened just a month ago, and now, this new scammer called me. Just send me a message if you want to know what organization this is.
I know I shouldn't generalize all organizations, but this is such a bad and traumatic experience that I don't want to do it anymore. I genuinely like to help in any small way I can, be a better person, share some of my blessings, but not to the point that it will jeopardize me.
Update:
I saw a post on Facebook, and apparently, it's not just me. Here's the link to the post:
I might forget this traumatizing feeling in the coming weeks, so I want to post this here, To remind myself about what happened and what I plan to do, and what I shouldn't do.
Let's stay vigilant, they are getting smarter, and they sound so "professional." As what John always tells me, if someone calls you from the "bank," the first thing that should come to mind is that it's a scammer. It's okay to be rude, didn't matter if they were really from the bank, these kinds of things are rampant, you don't know who to trust anymore.
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