Truth Squad: Boise woman nearly loses her retirement
BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - A Boise woman nearly lost all her retirement. She came dangerously close after falling for a creative pitch and called us to get the word out.
Carole is embarrassed she took the bait but agreed to talk with KBOI News as long as we concealed her identity.
"I feel very stupid and I'm very angry," Carole said.
She never thought it possible to fall for a scheme, but Carole says it was all very convincing.
"I got a phone call from Medicare and the man had a foreign voice and spoke very soft," Carole said.
The man said he wanted to make sure the information they had was correct.
"He asked me for my bank and my routing number," Carole said. He ultimately asked me for my checking account number."
She gave it to him even though something felt wrong.
"All the sudden I decided to hang up," Carole said.
The phone number had a Texas area code. The Truth Squad called the number back to see what was going on and it was disconnected.
"Scam artists are dialing for dollars and they dial numbers at random," said Dale Dixon, President of the Better Business Bureau.
Dixon says you can scramble phone numbers on the Internet as well so what pops up on your called ID isn't accurate.
"This type of a scam happens to so many people," Dixon Said. "It's important to let people know what happened."
Carole made sure she called Medicare and the bank so her account was protected. Then she came to the Truth Squad in hopes of warning other people.
To make sure you're not a victim remember that no government agency is going to call you out of the blue for your personal information.
Carole is embarrassed she took the bait but agreed to talk with KBOI News as long as we concealed her identity.
"I feel very stupid and I'm very angry," Carole said.
She never thought it possible to fall for a scheme, but Carole says it was all very convincing.
"I got a phone call from Medicare and the man had a foreign voice and spoke very soft," Carole said.
The man said he wanted to make sure the information they had was correct.
"He asked me for my bank and my routing number," Carole said. He ultimately asked me for my checking account number."
She gave it to him even though something felt wrong.
"All the sudden I decided to hang up," Carole said.
The phone number had a Texas area code. The Truth Squad called the number back to see what was going on and it was disconnected.
"Scam artists are dialing for dollars and they dial numbers at random," said Dale Dixon, President of the Better Business Bureau.
Dixon says you can scramble phone numbers on the Internet as well so what pops up on your called ID isn't accurate.
"This type of a scam happens to so many people," Dixon Said. "It's important to let people know what happened."
Carole made sure she called Medicare and the bank so her account was protected. Then she came to the Truth Squad in hopes of warning other people.
To make sure you're not a victim remember that no government agency is going to call you out of the blue for your personal information.
Stalked from a foreign country!
The calls started 5/1/13, first with voice (which I couldn't understand) then text after text for days on end! I finally turned of my cell phone. The very long phone number (just encase someone else is getting calls from this same man)Â is: 011-234-706-7181256. I've been told that this number is from a foreign country. The guy was asking for money!
 Tuesday 5/7/13, I went to the local Alltel office here in Payette and asked if they could block the above phone number? So they tried but it didn't work. So, on the 8th of May I went back and requested a new phone number, because the "Stalker" had made two more voice mail calls and several texts.
I certainly hope my new number puts an end to these nonsense calls and texts!