I think I got scammed?
September 17, 2022 7:11 AM Subscribe
I received a phone call from someone claiming to a broker for car insurance companies.
They had gotten my email address, my parents address (not mine), my date of birth, my car insurance company/type of policy as well as the make and model of my car. They also attempted to ask for my driver license number and my vin number which I refused to give to them and I hung up my phone.
Is there anything anyone can do with all of this personal information? I feel dumb and I can’t believe I fell for it.
They had gotten my email address, my parents address (not mine), my date of birth, my car insurance company/type of policy as well as the make and model of my car. They also attempted to ask for my driver license number and my vin number which I refused to give to them and I hung up my phone.
Is there anything anyone can do with all of this personal information? I feel dumb and I can’t believe I fell for it.
What exactly do you think you fell for? You didn't give them the information they were asking for. You didn't get scammed if you didn't give them any money.
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:24 AM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:24 AM on September 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
It's not impossible to be cold-called by independent insurance agents who work for multiple insurance underwriters, and can shop policies for you. And in the modern days of "everything's online", some people prefer to talk to a real person.
AFAICT, you haven't been scammed or deceived. You merely felt uneasy that someone has your name and former address, but that's public information.
posted by kschang at 9:38 AM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
AFAICT, you haven't been scammed or deceived. You merely felt uneasy that someone has your name and former address, but that's public information.
posted by kschang at 9:38 AM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Did you give them this information, or did they already have it?
In any case, I do recommend that you freeze your credit reports with credit reporting agencies as a matter of good financial health these days, and if you haven't done so yet, now's a great time to do it.
posted by Aleyn at 1:11 PM on September 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
In any case, I do recommend that you freeze your credit reports with credit reporting agencies as a matter of good financial health these days, and if you haven't done so yet, now's a great time to do it.
posted by Aleyn at 1:11 PM on September 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
They had gotten
As in "they already had and read out to me", or as in "they asked me to 'confirm' and I read it all out to them"?
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 4:59 PM on September 17, 2022
As in "they already had and read out to me", or as in "they asked me to 'confirm' and I read it all out to them"?
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 4:59 PM on September 17, 2022
« Older Can I drink this? Liquid fish oil edition. | 9/17/2022 - 9 Boston Location-Based Riddles Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
I've known small independent insurance brokers, worked for one briefly, and one of the tasks I had to do was to cold-call people trying to sell them car insurance. (I only lasted one afternoon doing that particular job.) That was 20 years ago, so perhaps thingd have changed, but this might just have been a telemarketer. We would need your address, type of car, and DOB to generate a quote for insurance. The fact that they bothered to ask after your current type of car insurance -- information that seems to me totally useless to a scammer, rather than going for something more juicy-- suggests this may have been legit, if annoying.
Did they give you their company name? Maybe you can look it up, and if it seems legit, call the company office to check if it was really them.
posted by hovey at 7:32 AM on September 17, 2022