With the massive number of data breaches that have been reported and probably countless others that have not even been discovered, they could have gotten your information from almost anywhere you had to provide it. An additional source is from customer service that has been outsourced to a foreign country where the laws do not provide sufficient protections of personal information. Employees of these overseas call centers think nothing of copying customer information onto flash drives to take home and then use to try and scam someone. Finally, these scammers surf social media sites like Facebook and develop just enough information about you to seem credible.
SCAM. DO NOT GIVE THEM (or anyone else) ANY INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE.
I actually picked up and played along. Two Indian guys. First guy said i should have been contacted by my state department the day before for verification, and asked me if i was called. I said yes. That took him by surprise, and he transferred me to a "Federal IRS agent". Second guy went on to say that I submitted a claim on my income tax for my school (they knew the school i went to), and that I had two options. 1. Fight the charges in court, or try to settle on the phone. I told him i would understood and that I would like to go to court. He immediately hung up.
Makes me wonder how they got my Name/Number or knew the college I went to.
With the massive number of data breaches that have been reported and probably countless others that have not even been discovered, they could have gotten your information from almost anywhere you had to provide it. An additional source is from customer service that has been outsourced to a foreign country where the laws do not provide sufficient protections of personal information. Employees of these overseas call centers think nothing of copying customer information onto flash drives to take home and then use to try and scam someone. Finally, these scammers surf social media sites like Facebook and develop just enough information about you to seem credible.
Just happened to my daughther in Illinois. Scared her. They told her they knew she was a college student and what school she went to. Luckily, the call cut out with the scammers, and she called me.