Scam targets WesBanco customers

Published 10:01 am Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Calls wanting account information

It’s the time when doing nothing is the right decision to make. That’s what WesBanco is telling its customers who are getting calls concerning their credit card.

Monday morning was the first time the bank learned that an automated voice service (AVS) was calling bank cardholders telling them there was an issue with their card.

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“It was first brought to our attention by a branch manager in Portsmouth,” Dan Mooney, regional vice president for WesBanco, said. “She had received a call from a customer. They had gotten a phone call. We alerted our compliance division to broadcast alerts about this telephone scam.”

WesBanco, headquartered in Wheeling, W.Va., has 116 branches in Southern Ohio, Northern West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania.

Online banking customers received an alert about the scam via the Internet. According to that alert, the recording wants cardholders to divulge personal information over the phone, including account number, PIN and authorization code.

“The bank would never, would never call a customer asking for account information,” Mooney said. “We are the bank. We have that information. The bank would never, ever do that.”

Accompanying the AVS call is what appears to be a valid Caller ID number.

“However, that ID is a spoofed (fake) number and will normally ring busy, if you call it back,” the Internet alert states.

Right now, the bank is reporting that it has received notification about the scam from several of its customers. If a customer did provide the AVS with the information sought, he or she should contact the bank immediately, Mooney said.

“We would put a lock on the account and most likely issue a new account,” he said. “If you gave them the information, they could feasibly use your card. They may order something on the Internet, which is probably more likely. This is a total fraud.”