NH Attorney General Issues Consumer Bank Phone Scam Alert

Written by Carol Robidoux, Nashua Patch

Consumer Alert

Attorney General Joseph A. Foster and New Hampshire Bankers Association President Christiana Thornton have issued a consumer alert to all New Hampshire residents warning them about a phone scam currently active in the state.  

Customers from a number of New Hampshire banks are reporting receiving phone calls and text messages stating their debit or credit card has been compromised and asking the customer to provide sensitive personal information.  These messages are fraudulent and are not being sent by the banks.  Legitimate organizations never contact their customers in this manner to obtain or verify personal information, such as account numbers, PINs, password, date of birth or social security number.   

Customers should always call their bank’s customer service center before providing any personal information over the phone or in response to a text message or email.

Attorney General Foster noted that these types of scams are all too frequent.  The scam artists are very creative in avoiding detection and are skilled at hiding their identity.  Often, these scams are operated from outside of the U.S. and are difficult to trace.  Consumers should always exercise extreme caution before providing personally indentifying information [date of birth; social security number; bank account, debit, credit card numbers] to anyone over the phone or on the internet.  Consumers should only do so when they have particular guarantees of trustworthiness.  Unsolicited calls or emails are especially suspect.  Anyone who receives a suspicious call should terminate the call as soon as possible. 

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office has a consumer hotline to answer consumer related questions.  That number is 1-888-468-4454. 

For more information about how to avoid scams or frauds, visit the Department of Justice website at http://doj.nh.gov/consumer.  Valuable information is also available at the FTC website at http://www.ftc.gov, and the website for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau athttp://www.consumerfinance.gov.