Got the call from "WAMU" at 6pm on a Saturday (2-12-2011) to say my card was locked and asking for my 16-digit account number to unlock it. WAMU doesn't exist and if they did they wouldn't call on a weekend evening and use a creepy recording to get my info. So I played along and entered bogus numbers, which it said weren't recognized as existing accounts. Hung up and called back. It rang for quite some time, then I got the recording that you get from Sprint if your phone is shut off - that guy saying the call cannot be completed. Reported it to the FCC and my local Attorney General.
I got a call on my cell phone from this # and did not answer. I typed the # into a google search and it showed the number being American Care Systems in Miami FL. I will not call the number to confirm this as I have nothing to do w/ American Care Systems Inc.
I was booking a hotel on priceline when my cell phone rang. The automated voice said that Washington Mutual was shutting down my card for security reasons. I don't have a credit card with them.....Nice try. They wanted me to put in my credit card information including security code. I hung up, but will file a FCC complaint.
Same thing happened to me....NO WAMU account. I did call the number back and heard the same ol story from someone with a thick accent...hung up. Hope these people are caught soon...better things to do than waste my time and minutes answering fraudulent calls.
I work in a company that can use computer to automate a call. We do that for banks, healthcare, airlines and emergency services. I received a call from this number as well. I believe it was a fraud but let me explain why I believe it is, and also why I believe that we should not crucify the number on the caller ID:
- It told me about my Washington Mutual account. It doesn't exist and WAMU went kaput a year-ish ago
- It asked me to enter my 16-digit card number. In my company, when we have to call someone for fraud, the call has already been registered with the number. We will ask you to verify by entering your last 4-digit of SSN, or billing zip instead. We NEVER asked the call receivers to enter 16-digit credit card number (unless they're paying for something, which is a different type of call)
- When you call back the number, it connected to AMERICAN CARE, INC. (I believe they're the true owner of the number)
- In my company, when we generate these calls, we can literately put ANY number to be a CallerID. I believe they were just looking for numbers to enter
Just to be clear, my company doesn't do text-to-speech calls. We actually use voice talents to record our calls and will NEVER ask you to verify yourself by entering credit card numbers and its security code.