Many months ago my bank advised that thousands of MasterCard, and other, ATM card numbers had been compromised by unknown hackers. The creeps making these calls have apparently gained access to that stolen data. However, the information they have is useless unless you give them additional data. Data such as the card’s expiration date, the security ID number or, probably worst of all, your ATM PIN.
Do not fall for the scam(s). If the deal or offer is too good to be true, you can be sure it’s not true! It’s just a clever scam to harvest your personal data. They already have card number, name & phone number. Don’t give them any more than they already have.
I too have been getting calls from people at these numbers most of them have been from a 213 area code, but one of them was from a 616 area code as well, but the same company. they do not leave messages they just keep calling and calling. I called the many numbers and get the same recording"Thank you for calling the Marketing Department I never get a human voice. Finally today I made sure to have my home phone calls forwarded to my cell phone so i could answer the call and demand they stop calling because I am not interested, When they called they asked for me by my first name and I said yes this is michelle and then they repeated it with my last name and I said what can i do for you? She proceeded to ask me if I have a credit card ending in !@#$ and I send no I do not why are you asking she continued to say that it does not have to be a credit card but it could be a debit card bank card ETC. When i repeated that i did not have a credit card ending in that number and that I was not interested in anything they where offering she hung up on me. I then immediatley called my bank to have them cancel my card and to issue me a new one. I would watch out for this it is really weird. I have reported them to the FTC and to Channel 5 Investigates. They have to be stopped.
I got this call on 10/19/08. Said that since I use my Visa, they want to send a $25 "thank you" Visa gift card. Said for just $1 to cover shipping of $25 card. I know that if something is free, the consumer does not have to pay shipping or anything else. So I was at my PC while she was talking. I told her to hold the line and I typed in "Todays Escape Plus" (this is the name of the scammers). It lead me to 'theripoffreport.com.
prior post, caller identified themselves as "Avalon Marketing". ? Wonder if this website may have something to do with them. Company name on site is Avalon Marketing Inc. http://avalonmarketing.biz/index2.html
still in the works.
I got the call today. She implied that she was with the bank and wanted to thank me for being a valued customer with various gift cards. I hung up half way into the conversation and she called back repeatedly until I answered and said I'm not interested.
Then she had the audacity to accuse me of wasting her time.. I told her to stop running scams
This is a SCAM. Do not give them any information. They are trying to get more info about you. Your bank or Visa card are not going to give you $25 gift cards to Wal-Mart or anywhere else. Tell them you know it is a scam, notify your card holder and watch your statements for fraudulent charges.