How can you electronically drain someone’s bank account while also preventing their bank from contacting them to verify the transaction? Use telephony to flood all of their phone lines with anything from dead air to phone sex promo recordings. According to the Communication Fraud Control Association, these scams are increasing in recent weeks. Be wary.

Last November, Robert Thousand Jr., a semi-retired dentist in Florida, received a flood of calls to several phones. When he answered them, he heard a 30-second recording for a sex hotline, according to the St. Augustine Record.

In December, he discovered that $399,000 had been drained from his Ameritrade retirement account shortly after he’d received the calls. About $18,000 was transferred from his account on Nov. 23, with a $82,000-transfer following two days later. Five days after that, another $99,000 was drained, followed by two transfers of $100,000 each on Dec. 2 and 4. The thieves withdrew the money in New York.

If you receive a flood of harassing calls, alert your financial institutions to possible fraud, in addition to your phone company.

Thieves Flood Victim’s Phone With Calls to Loot Bank Accounts [Threat Level]

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