TILLAMOOK, Ore. -- Customers at banks along the Oregon Coast have been targetted by scammers reaching them by phone.
The calls came by the hundreds to bank customers in three coastal counties. The messages were automated and ironically, notified bankers that their accounts had been the targets of fraud.
The automated calls targeted customers in Tillamook, Lincoln and Clatsop counties. Though the message claimed to represent the TLC Federal Credit Union, customers from at least four different financial institutions were contacted.
"They're out there fishing, wanting information and hoping someone will bite," said Debi Smiley, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Wauna Federal Credit Union.
Smiley's institution began receiving calls from its members early Thursday morning to inquire about the calls. Within minutes the credit union's Clatskanie branch was covered with fraud alert signs at every entrance and in front of every teller.
"It sounded very official," explained Rose Alsbury.
She heard about the scam from her husband who received the call on his cell phone while traveling in Arizona.
"Press one and give his debit card number and then also his expiration date," Alsbury recalled, chuckling. Rose and her husband immediately recognized the trap. "People need to be reminded not to fall victim to these kinds of things."
Though it's unclear who placed the calls, it appears the numbers dialed came at random. None of the coastal credit unions whose customers were contacted reported a security breach and none sell customer phone numbers to third parties.
"They find a book of phone numbers, a block of phone numbers that they found to be legitimate and then they just have the auto dialer do the rest of it," explained Smiley.
With many robo-calls generated internationally, it's possible the culprit will never be identified or apprehended.
If you received this call an divulged any personal information, you're urged to call your banking institution immediately.
