BARNEGAT, NJ — The Barnegat Township Police Department is warning residents about a scam involving individuals impersonating bank fraud departments and arranging in-person collection of debit cards.
New Jersey residents have reported receiving phone calls from scammers using “spoofed” phone numbers that appear to be legitimate major bank fraud lines.
During these calls, the scammer may accurately reference recent, legitimate transactions on the victim’s account, then falsely claim that additional unauthorized out-of-state transactions have occurred.
These transactions are not real and are used to convince the victim their account has been compromised.
Believing the call to be legitimate, victims are then told that a courier will come to their residence to collect their debit card and deliver it directly to the bank’s fraud department.
Once the card is surrendered, it is used to conduct fraudulent transactions.
Police say legitimate banks will never send couriers to collect debit cards, nor will they request customers to surrender debit cards or banking information in this manner.
Authorities advise residents not to provide personal or banking information and not to surrender debit cards to anyone.
Police recommend hanging up and contacting banks directly using the phone number on the back of the card.
Anyone who believes they have been targeted or victimized by this scam should contact the Barnegat Township Police Department.
