PORT ANGELES — Thousands of complaints about a credit/debit card scam flooded police dispatchers and banks this week, and police and banks are working with the FBI to find the culprits.
Beginning a week ago, residents told police and local banks that they received phone calls, some automated, in which they were told that their credit/debit cards issued by financial institutions had been suspended, and asking for such personal information as the credit card number.
86 calls to 9-1-1 center Tuesday
On Tuesday alone, about 86 such complaints were phoned into dispatchers at the Peninsula Communications 9-1-1 Center in Port Angeles, which handles calls from throughout Clallam County.
Sound Community Bank spokesman Scott Boyer said that the bank was inundated with calls from customers.
“We had a number of public service announcements when this started last Thursday,” Boyer said.
“It seemed to kind of slow down after that, so we thought maybe it was someone local who had heard the media attention.
“But now we are experiencing a whole other, large wave.”
Strait View Credit Union received between 2,000 and 3,000 calls on Wednesday alone, said vice-president Kandy Peterson.
“It finally slowed down about an hour [before we closed on Wednesday] but we also had people calling to our staffs’ home numbers,” Peterson said.
“We are a small entity, so we have been overwhelmed.”
Although most reports of scam phone calls were from Port Angeles, some also were from Sequim and the West End, said Clallam County Sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron.
Most of the references to banks were to Sound Community Bank — which has offices in Seattle, Tacoma and Mountlake Terrace, as well as Port Angeles and Sequim — and Strait View Credit Union of Port Angeles, said Port Angeles Police Officer Duane Benedict.
Some of those contacted didn’t bank at the institutions mentioned.
The scam, called a “phishing scam,” began last Thursday, generally on cell phones. Since then it has expanded to land lines and text messaging, Benedict said.
No such reports have been made in Port Townsend, said Officer Ryan Smith.
Benedict said the calls appear to be coming from out of state and the numbers showing up on people’s caller IDs are simply “masks” for the people really calling — making it difficult to track.
Tracking calls
One of those masking phone numbers belongs to a Michigan man Benedict declined to identify who tired of calls from people in Clallam County who saw his number on their caller ID.
The man used his high tech computers and technological skills to track the Internet Protocol addresses of the people who were making the calls, Benedict said.
He told the Port Angeles police that the scam phone calls are being made through Voice Over the Internet Phones. IP addresses identify the locations of where an action over the Internet originated.
“He turned that information over to the FBI,” Benedict said.
The banks and local law enforcement are working in coordination with the FBI, he said.
Most who reported the scam phone calls hadn’t provided the information requested, such as bank account numbers, personal identification numbers and Social Security numbers, Cameron said.
Boyer and Peterson said no financial institution would phone customers to ask for such information, and that anyone who provides it should immediately contact the bank.
Typical targets
Peterson said that small communities are typical targets, as are locally-based banks.
“Of course they have no idea if the people they are calling actually bank here or not, but statistically they only need about 2 percent of people that they call to actually fall for it and they would be rolling in the money,” she said.
Cameron said a rash of Verizon customers were phoned Tuesday night.
“Even I got a call on my cell phone,” he said. “I just hung up on them right away. I didn’t even wait to hear what they had to say.”
Boyer and Peterson said that bank records have not been compromised.
To contact dispatchers for any Clallam County law enforcement agency, phone 360-452-4545.
To contact Sound Community Bank in Sequim, phone 360-683-2818; in Port Angeles, phone 360-452-4624. Strait View Credit Union in Port Angeles can be reached at 360-452-3883.
If such calls are received in Port Townsend, phone police at 360-385-3831.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
