A couple of minutes ago I received a call from an automated system pretending to be from JP Morgan Chase that gave me an “online access code” and asked to call back 1-866-355-3744 in case I did not request the code.
I did not request the code, so I called back. There was another automated system that asked me for my debit card number and PIN. At this point I felt something is not kosher, hung up the phone and called Chase customer service on the back of my card.
This is when things started to get weird. The customer service representative confirmed that 1-866-355-3744 number does not belong to Chase, and calmly advised me not to give any information to anyone. She did not seem interested in pursuing the case any further. I asked to be transferred to the fraud department.
The fraud department was not much interested either. The representative asked for my debit card number and my name. I explained the situation to her, and she said she need to further verify my details to help me with any fraudulent activity on my account. I explained, that was not the purpose of my call: I did not give out any information, and all I want Chase to do is track down the people who are impersonating them, assuming that would have better connection with the FCC, or the FBI, or whoever else handles this kind of stuff.
The fraud department representative would not budge: she had the script and she had to follow it. Since the only option in the script was apparently “OMG, some people took my money!”, it felt hopeless, so I declined further assistance and hung up.
Judging from the Google search, this fraud has been going on since at least 2010, but no one seems to give a damn. I filed a complained with the FCC, let’s see if it takes us anywhere.
Rewind back a couple of months. My relative’s wallet was stolen, apparently on the bus, with a little bit of cash and a few credit cards. She reported it to the Port Authority police in New York. She had a pretty good idea who stole it and I think if they got to it, they could catch the guy. However, they were totally not interested. In fact, they outright refused to take the case and issue a police report, claiming that it is not certain that the theft occurred on the bus. A police report was still needed to trigger fraud protection from the credit card companies, so she went to her local town police. They were sympathetic, opened the case and issued the report, but indicated that they will not be able to conduct any investigation, since the theft happened outside of their jurisdiction. After the report was issued, the credit card companies promptly removed all unauthorized transactions and ate up the loss.
The bottom line is that the law enforcement and the banks for some reason seem to be completely not interested in pursuing the fraudsters and the thieves. It seems cheaper for them to just eat the loss than to do something about it.
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> all I want Chase to do is track down the people who are impersonating them,
What could they do with a phone call from Nigeria?
> cheaper for them to just eat the loss
Of course.
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> What could they do with a phone call from Nigeria?
It is not a simple call from Nigeria. Someone has registered a toll free number (1-866-355-3744) with the phone provider, and keeps paying for it. And they’ve been doing this for a long time, so it’s unlikely they are using stolen credit cards.
> > cheaper for them to just eat the loss
> Of course.
I understand it may be cheaper to absorb small losses from manual card thefts. However, this operation seems to be going on for years.
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> It is not a simple call from Nigeria
Was the quality of phone connection good?
> this operation seems to be going on for years
Banks and police probably are waiting for actual victims (somebody who actually lost money, unlike you).
My guess is that both police and big banks are too bureaucratic in order to actually trying to prevent wire fraud in a small scale.
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> keeps paying for it.
google: Toll Free Number-$4.95/mo – Beat Competitor’s Price By 10%
> However, this operation seems to be going on for years.
They hunting big fish, like
… carder Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, aka “Track2”, has been handed 27 years inside for stealing 2.9 million credit cards he mostly prised from point-of-sale systems. Seleznev, the son of a Russian member of parliament, was found guilty in August 2016 and sentenced last week …
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That makes an impression than only about a hundred people are actually working in FBI. The rest are just collecting salaries for doing nothing useful.
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I’d say it’s a normal situation in any big organization 🙂
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Many times I have received false emails imitating banks (phishing) I have reported to the respective bank by email but very rarely respond or see that the fake web is deleted.
They are more interested hosting and domains companies than the banks themselves in ending the fraud, if it was not for these companies I think that false webs would never disappear.
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I never heard about this scam until today. Out of habit I googled the phone number and found lots of complaints that go back as far as 2010. Many reported that they contacted Chase but the scam is still going strong. I called the number out of curiosity but the experience was really scary. The scammers apparently stepped up their game. What you hear first is an automatic voice reading the COVID-19 statement from the company then giving information about the IRS relief checks. It sounded as if someone providing online Customer Service for Chase stole their recordings. When the automatic voice finally offered a choice of services to contact, it required sensitive customer information every single time.
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Checking in during 2022. Still an issue…
Pretending to be Chase. Unsolicited call with code for login which gives this number to call in the event you weren’t expecting the code. When you call, you do reach Chase, but not via a Chase phone number. – Most likely 3rd party skimming where they record the touch-tones and audio of sensitive information. Chase confirmed this is not their number and they didn’t send me a code. Any phone number can be displayed on Caller ID and what is displayed shows a Chase business line. Overall, don’t provide any information via this phone number to whoever answers, Chase or not.