Starcom Communications?

First off, I'm not sure if this is in the right place or not.

I've been getting numerous phone calls to my cell phone saying that I won $500, and obviously, I ask them "Why would I win this?" they have told me many responses for example "Because of a recent credit/debit purchase" of course I don't have a credit/debit card..another one was TOO funny, they told me because i made a purchase at one of their affiliated stores, i ask which stores, they say "Wal-mart, best buy, etc.." I say i haven't bought there...ever...and wow what a reply i get "Well, it could've been that you made a purchase at a grocery store" WTF?? who doesnt buy at grocery stores??

Well, my brother, being as smart as he is, gave them his checking information but after discovering that he couldn't find any information on them online and they gave him a fake number he tried to cancel and they hung up on him.. He calls his bank and blocks his account.

Well today i get a call to confirm the 'order' and i tell them i want to cancel this (pretending to be my bro). They agree completly and make me go through this "recording" which was funny because all they had was a cassette player against the phone since it was so low and you hear them rewinding and she constantly had to repeat the 'recording'.

They told me I had to call another number to cancel it, it was a phony number too. But they gave my like 3 numbers so I call another number they gave me to my surprise..it worked. They told me to call back within 48 hours..

Well, I want to know any information you can get on 'Starcom Communication' I'm comming up blank and if you know of any recent frauds like these? Also anything my brother can do to prevent getting scammed out of all the money in his account.

I worked in a bank and can tell you that as long as his bank is aware and there is a block on his account for Starcom Communication - he should be ok. The bank will put a stop payment on his account for Starcom Communications. The only thing I would worry about is that it wouldn't come through under than name. Personally, I would open another account and transfer my $$ there and keep the one open that I gave out - it would be a way to help track down the scammers in the event they try to access the account.

Hope that helps.

This should be reported to a law enforcement agency...

Elsa802 has also given good advice...about changing accounts....PITA...but maybe worth it.

MLF

Hey Hey,

What is the phone number that's appearing on your phone?

If you dig through some older threads, I've got one in wireless security maybe.. or maybe it's here... about a phone number that was basically spamming... It'd call you constantly with a prerecorded message.

Peace,
HT

Thanks for the replies.

Elsa: The bank is aware of Starcom but also there is a complete block (from what my brother told me) on his account. No money can exit that account, I have told my brother to make a new account and transfer the funds there, it's up to him weather he does it or not.

Morgan: It seems to me to be too much hassle to report this to the law enforcement :-/

HTRegz: Well, my caller ID says (Translated from spanish) "Unknown origen" and it wasn't a pre-recorded message it was a live person. However, something I've noticed is that (not trying to discriminate at all) is that everytime they call me, it's a hindu (or have the accent of one) guy/girl and I can barely understand them.

Elsa, I have a question for you or anybody else that can answer it:
I told them that the account was under MY name, will that alone prevent them from accessing money from my brothers account. I have no permission to take out any funds from that account either (without my brothers pin and debit card).

The moral of this all, to everybody: Always act suspicious when they try to give you something and ask A LOT of questions :-/

As far as I know - it would probably be a wire transfer - name may not matter. Depends on how they try to access the account. Did they ask for the routing number and checking account number of the bank, name of the bank, etc? Or just his account number?

What is interesting to note is that they called back - probably thinking they could get more info from your brother. I would report to the cops - they will put a bulletin on the news...that kind of stuff gets picked up pretty quick.

Elsa

Elsa: Yeah, they asked for a routing number and repeated it to me today (along with the acct number)

Well, how did they get my name, number and address in the first place (well my address was probably given to them by my brother)