Scammers claim to be Chase Bank, steal thousands from Chicago businesses
CHICAGO (CBS) – Huge chunks of money were transferred in an instant. That's how a wire works.
A Chicago salon owner said a scammer tricked him into sending one - $19,000 gone in a flash. It left today's payroll in jeopardy.
Morning Insider Lauren Victory showed us he's not the only victim in the area.
Salon DJ stylists make people feel beautiful, while ugliness lurks in the boss's office.
They got a call from a number for Chase Bank, which is why salon owner Daniel Janicek said he didn't suspect anything as he walked into work. A fake banker somehow manipulated the caller ID and was asking about a bunch of Chase business charges.
"It kind of put me in a little bit of a panic," Janicek recalled. "'Let's stop that from happening. That's definitely not me.'"
Michele Damico and Seneka Drdak shared similar stories of wire fraud that began over text with instructions to call a number they thought was Chase Bank.
"Did you make this in Florida? Did you do this? And I kept saying 'No,'" Damico said.
"'You got suspicious activity,' and I said, 'Well if you can, just shut it down,'" recalled Drdak.
Victory: "Did that person ask you for any identifying info?
Seneka: "No just to verify who I was."
Damico: "You don't realize that they're just throwing random questions out there. That's when they know that they have you sucked in."
Damico lost $50,000 she planned to use to start a fashion consulting firm.
Here's the lie that did her in: "'Transfer the $50,000 into your business account,'" Damico recalled. "'Once they go to wire it, we are able to watch them and block it.'"
Instead, her money flew out of the account and never came back.
Scammers sent themselves two wires worth more than $10,000 from Drdak's account before he realized what was happening.
"The guy gave me a reference number with everything being so chaotic," Drdak said. "I didn't have a pen and paper at the time."
Chaos was settling in at the salon too. Imagine tending to a customer while talking to someone you think is helping you stop fraud.
Victory: "So they were giving you all these codes and you thought that was making the call more secure?"
Janicek: "Yeah, yeah, absolutely."
Instead, by reading those confirmation codes back to the caller, Janicek accidentally fed $19,000, aka his payroll, right to the bad guys. He's nervous that Chase won't refund him.
"Even if they automatically or simultaneously fix this, this may take a week," Janicek said. "And I don't have a week."
Chase is adamant its bank employees will never call, text, or email customers asking for a passcode, or password, or ask to send money to prevent fraud.
Chase took up another one of these cases, after a CBS 2 request. Unfortunately, none of them will be receiving a refund.
The bank's reasoning: each customer somehow authorized the wire transaction. The bottom line is to not give any information to someone who calls you saying they're from the bank, even if the phone number looks legitimate.
What do I do if I get a phone call about my account?
- Never give out personal or financial information such as your checking account, credit card and Social Security numbers over the phone unless you made the call or you know the person or organization you're dealing with.
- We won't ask you for your PIN or password by calling you or by sending you an email. We may ask for this information only when you call us to discuss your account.
- Be careful when you get a phone call from someone who:
- Threatens to close or suspend your account if you don't tell them your personal information
- Tells you your account has been attacked and then asks you to tell them your account or personal information
- Requires you to give any personal information, such as your user name, password or account number
- Asks you to confirm, verify or update your account, credit card or billing information
- Please contact us right away if you believe you've given out any personal information over the phone. To report a suspicious phone call or potentially fraudulent activity, please follow the instructions on this page.
- Information about phishing attempts through email, phone or text, including examples and how to report it can also be found here.
- Remember: We won't ask for confidential information such as your user name, password, personal identification number (PIN) or other account information in a text message or email. You can find that information on our website here.