Scam Type
Bank/Credit Card Company Imposter Scam
Business Name Used
Fidelity Fraud Dept. Imposter Phone Call Vishing and Bank Account Fraud Scam
Date Reported
January 31, 2024
Postal Code
75167
Total Dollars Lost
$ 0
Scam Description
rOn Thursday 25Jan2024 at 10:23am CT, I Received a phone call that appeared on my phone as Fidelity Customer Service and used the same phone number I would call myself if I needed to call Fidelity customer service. When I answered the very polite and professional male on the other end introduced himself and said he was calling from the Fidelity Fraud Department. He advised that there had been a couple of charges attempted on my account using my debit card number and they didn’t seem typical so they were calling to verify. One charge was to a supermarket in Houston, TX for approx. $600. I advised I was not in nor had I recently been in Houston, TX. He said the second charge was for an even $500 and was a Zelle payment to a Marcos Sanchez. I again advised this was not something I initiated or approved and that I didn’t have a Zelle account and do not know a Marcos Sanchez. The man then informed me he would have those charges stopped and that we needed to take additional steps to secure my account. He never asked for any personal or financial information. He said that he would need to shut my debit card off and have a new one sent and I could expedite the process for a $25 charge. I said no regular processing was fine. He then advised we would have to reset the password on my online account. Again he never asked for any personal or bank information, he simply said that in order for him to initiate the password change he would need me to verify the 6-digit codes that was just sent to my phone. I received a text from the same number that Fidelity would typically text me from, and read him the 6-digit code. Shortly after that I received an email stating my online account password had been changed. The man then asked me to hold while he processed the payment reversal on my account. He then came back on the line and asked about a wire transfer and if I had initiated that. I once more advise no, I hadn’t done anything like that.
At this time, I wanted to see for myself what was going on with my account so I used the app on my phone to access my account, and I could see that a new wire bank account had been added to my Fidelity account; the name on the new account was Geramaya Henry, SoFi Bank, National Association, Acct # ending 7121 and was designated as enable for wire transfers. I was again placed on hold. When the man returned to the line, he advised that in order to reverse the wire transfer, his supervisor would have to approve the last step and asked if he could call me back once the reversal had been completed, mostly because his supervisor was occupied at the moment and he didn’t want to keep placing me on hold. I said that was fine and he said he would return my call in about 30 minutes.
Before I let him off the line, I asked him why I didn’t receive the fraud alert text from Fidelity that I normally would have received, and he advised whomever had accessed my account had disabled email and text notifications. Seemed legitimate to me.
I waited 30 minutes and another 30 minutes. When I didn’t receive a call back I called Fidelity Customer Service and asked about my account, the representative immediately transferred me to the fraud dept and when I spoke to Mike in the Fraud Dept it was then we determined the initial call I received from “Fidelity Customer Service” was not legit and was a scam. Mike immediately suspended my accounts and worked with me to remove any linked bank accounts that were not mine. He worked it out so that I could transfer funds from my Fidelity account to a different bank account I own and he initiated shutting down my current Fidelity accounts.
I thankfully acted in time and didn’t lose any funds other than the wire transfer fee charged by my other bank.
I never received another call from the FAKE Fidelity Customer Service until this past Monday 29Jan2024 one attempt to call me was made, I did not answer, then yesterday, 30Jan2024 I received three more phone calls from the same number and ID, all three one right after the other when I didn’t answer.
