Guard your bank account information

The Daily Inter Lake

Several Flathead County residents reported a variety of scams last week - although none of the people lost any money.

Flathead County Sheriff's Deputy Roger Schiff happened to take reports from two people who were targeted by con men.

On Wednesday, a woman told him that a man with a foreign accent called her and said her bank account information had become public information and was available on the Internet.

He said he needed her account number and information to verify that it is hers before he could remove it.

"She refused," Schiff said.

The man continued trying to extract information from her and guessed, incorrectly, what bank she uses.

"She laughed and hung up," Schiff said.

On Thursday, another resident received e-mail from someone trying to get the same information by a different means.

Identifying itself as from SunTrust, the e-mail informed the recipient that because of identity thefts, the company required her to submit credit card information, including log-in information and passwords used for online banking.

The information is mandatory, the e-mail said, and the woman's credit card could be suspended if she didn't comply.

She didn't, Schiff said.

The same woman received communication from someone pretending to be Smith Barney investment company. It said the company was upgrading its software and needed her account information.

Schiff said the potential victims in the cases did the right thing: They refused to provide information and either called the company that supposedly requested the information or called police.

The same thing happened in Kalispell, where a woman was notified that she won $10,000 and had to provide a bank account number to claim it. She didn't.

"You never have to give something to get something from any legitimate prize award or contests," Kalispell Police Chief Frank Garner said.

"Call us" if there's a question, Schiff said. "Or call the bank to see if it's legitimate."

There is no reason ever to give out bank information to anyone who calls you, Schiff said.