PORT TOWNSEND — A phone scam in which customers are asked to give their personal banking information seems to have moved from Clallam County to Jefferson County.
Hundreds of Jefferson County residents have received automated phone calls since Thursday to both land lines and cell phones in which an automated recording states that their Quimper Community Federal Credit Union ATM cards were compromised.
The message urges customers to call a number and provide their account information.
The calls are not from Quimper Credit Union, said Jennifer Taylor, Port Townsend branch manager of Quimper Credit Union.
She said that customers and non-customers alike have reported these calls to the credit union.
“We just started getting hit yesterday afternoon,” Taylor said Friday. “It’s been nonstop today.”
A rash of similar calls hit Clallam County on Feb. 18, and have continued to both land lines and cell phones using the 360 area code.
“We’ve been getting phone calls like you wouldn’t believe in the community,” said Port Townsend Police Sgt. Ed Green on Friday.
“They’re claiming to be an affiliate of local banks. So far, we’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had any victims.
“I don’t know of any bank that would ask for that data.”
Green urged citizens to be vigilant and never give out their personal banking information. Financial institutions do not request that information over the phone.
He said the scammers are targeting Quimper Credit Union’s two branches in Port Townsend and Port Hadlock.
Over the past month, thousands of Clallam County residents were told by automated messages that their Strait-View Credit Union or Sound Community Bank accounts had been suspended and were asked to provide their account numbers.
Most of the Clallam County scam calls were in Port Angeles, with some calls made to residents of Sequim and the West End.
Dropped off in Clallam
“It’s dropped here from what it was by quite a bit,” Port Angeles Police Officer Duane Benedict said Saturday.
“There’s still a few coming in. Apparently they started with Verizon. Now they’ve switched to other carriers.”
Kandy Peterson, vice president of Strait View Credit Union, told Benedict that she had received a call from a large credit union in New York that was being slammed with reports of a similar scam.
“And apparently it’s happening in several other locations,” Benedict said.
“I hadn’t heard about the Port Townsend one, but it doesn’t surprise me any.”
Investigators in both counties have no leads on who or what is behind the calls.
Police and the FBI have said the calls are likely coming from another state or another country.
Strait View is compiling a report on the scam, which Benedict will forward to the FBI. Benedict said he isn’t sure where the investigation will go from there.
Numbers that appeared on called IDs were “masked,” showing numbers that originated from across the continent.
“We really don’t know where they’re coming from either,” Green said.
One Jefferson County resident received a scam call originating from number made up of all zeros, Green said.
Debbi Greenspane, Quimper CEO, said in a statement: “What happens is, they get your pin number and someone else standing at an ATM quickly drains that person’s account.”
Give no personal information
Taylor said Quimper is educating its members to “under no circumstance” give out personal information.
When phoning Quimper, a recording says: “Quimper Community Federal Credit Union is aware of the fraudulent phone calls that you have been receiving over the past 24 hours. If you have given out any personal information please speak immediately with a Quimper Community Federal Credit Union employee.”
Information about the scam also is posted on the credit union’s Web site, www.quimpercu.com.
Taylor reported that two customers had compromised their account information as of late Friday.
“Anybody that’s given out personal information needs to call us immediately,” Taylor said.
Customers of other financial institutions who provide their account numbers should phone that bank or credit union.
Financial institutions are not responsible for losses if customers give banking information to scammers, but they can take quick action to prevent losses, said both Green and Quimper’s Web site.
Customers should phone financial institutions and the police only if they have given out personal information.
Quimper can be reached at 360-385-3663 or 800-505-3347.
The Port Townsend police can be reached at 360-385-3831.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
