Wat Nest...
I once received a phone call from someone claiming to be fraud protection at my bank. They told me they wanted to go through my credit card history to check that everything was legit.

They then asked for proof that I was me, e.g. name, date of birth, address, credit card number etc. It was at this point my fraud protection senses started tingling, so I asked them to prove they were from my bank.

They said they couldn't prove they were from my bank because they couldn't give personal information out. So I came up with a fool-proof plan to discover if they were who they said they were. I asked them for their phone number, hung up, and then called customer services at my bank.

"I've just been phoned by this number, and they claim to be from this bank. Can you confirm that this phone number belongs to your bank?" I asked.

The reply I got. "We are a large bank, and we have a lot of phone numbers, so it may be one of ours, or it may not..."

Thanks. Thanks a lot for that. Twats.
(slickback, Thu 23 Feb 2012, 19:13, 2 replies)

I did the same...
Though when I phoned my branch and within 10 mins they had assured me it was a real number, turns out some bsteward had cloned my card.
( rjmrjm, Thu 23 Feb 2012, 19:17, closed)

The correct approach is
"I'll call you back on my banks normal number. Either give me an extension number I can ask to be passed through to, or add the correct number as a note to my account for the advisor to give to me"

That way, if it's an extension, you know its your bank. If it's a full number, you know the person you were speaking to has access to your account.

Another option is just to confidently give a completely wrong answer. If they accept it, it's a scam. If they know it's wrong, it's probably genuine.
(bblgoose, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 12:09, closed)