by Andit

Last Thursday, my Mom got a call saying that there was a problem with her Visa.  The caller never identified himself, but said he was calling from Toronto Dominion Bank (first red flag, since the standard tag is TD Canada Trust).  When my Mom asked which Visa he was calling about (she has 3 she rarely uses, don’t ask), he asked her to give him the numbers so he could identify which one he was verifying.  My Mom refused, saying that she preferred to go to the bank to get things straightened out in person, but the caller kept insisting it had to be done over the phone.  My Mom finally hung up the phone.

The next day, she went to the bank to warn them about the phone scam, but the teller showed no interest.  I made a call to someone a bit more senior in that branch (it used to be my home branch), & he apologized for the teller’s indifference & thanked me for bringing this to his attention, but he’s not sure what all they can do.

Thought I’d post to let folks beware that this scam is out there again (seems to come round every few years).  My parents are located in Scarborough ON (east end of Toronto), not sure if the scam is run locally or they pick phone numbers out of a hat.  Not sure if they knew my parents had a Visa or if it was a guess.