How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

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JimInIllinois
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How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by JimInIllinois »

At around 9am this morning (Saturday) I received a phone call from someone claiming to be from XXX mutual fund company (major, not Vanguard) that I recently opened an account with wanting to clarify some detail of my account. She then said she needed to verify who she was talking to and what was my address. I told her I couldn't talk at the moment and please call back on Monday, to which she said fine. This seems strange since I have never had a mutual fund company call me, they always send a letter or secure online message (this company doesn't seem to support that feature) and I call them, or they call back in response to me leaving a message or at a specific time. Caller ID matches the company's 800 line, but that can be faked (which is how it shows an 800 number rather than a direct line). Has this happened to anyone else? How can I confirm that it is legitimate? My thought is to ask her how I can reach her by calling the number listed on the website and then do that.
sport
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by sport »

Call them using a number that you know is real. You can then ask if anyone called you and if they need any info from you.
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ResearchMed
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by ResearchMed »

JimInIllinois wrote:At around 9am this morning (Saturday) I received a phone call from someone claiming to be from XXX mutual fund company (major, not Vanguard) that I recently opened an account with wanting to clarify some detail of my account. She then said she needed to verify who she was talking to and what was my address. I told her I couldn't talk at the moment and please call back on Monday, to which she said fine. This seems strange since I have never had a mutual fund company call me, they always send a letter or secure online message (this company doesn't seem to support that feature) and I call them, or they call back in response to me leaving a message or at a specific time. Caller ID matches the company's 800 line, but that can be faked (which is how it shows an 800 number rather than a direct line). Has this happened to anyone else? How can I confirm that it is legitimate? My thought is to ask her how I can reach her by calling the number listed on the website and then do that.
One "bad" sign when someone calls you unexpectedly, claiming to be from some company you do/might have an account with, is when they start asking you for more information. NEVER give out any information in that situation, as you rightly refused.

The few times this has occurred, we've done pretty much what you have suggested. We ask for the person's full name and the extension at the MAIN publicly listed phone number for the company.
If the person refuses... that's the answer, and we hang up.

If they give the contact info, then we find a neutral way to find the proper "main number" (from a statement or a trusted online listing) and then we might call back.

But we will NEVER give out ANY information when there is a cold call, no matter how much information the caller seems to have.

RM
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nisiprius
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by nisiprius »

JimInIllinois wrote:...My thought is to ask her how I can reach her by calling the number listed on the website and then do that...
That is what I would do.

I'd say "I'll call back at the number I get from the Company X website. What should I do then? How can I reach you?" Normally, they will either tell me how to reach them, or they will say something like "Ask for the thus-and-such department. You may not be able to get me, but I've put notes in your file and anyone you reach in that department will be able to take care of it."
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LAlearning
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by LAlearning »

I wouldn't talk to anyone. Ever. If they need to reach you there will be a message in your account. And I would call the main # to confirm anyways.
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downshiftme
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by downshiftme »

I've received phishing calls. The best practice is to NEVER divulge any information to someone who calls you. If you think they actually sound legit, ask for a name or issue number - then call back on a number YOU find, never one that they supply. You don't even need to confirm your name, last 4 social, address or anything else they ask for. The best policy is ZERO information until you contact them on a number previously known to you.
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celia
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by celia »

This also applies to any other company you have a relationship with (bank, insurance, IRS, etc). Unless THEY supply all the needed info, I turn around and initiate a call.

An example of THEM supplying the information is my bank calling me to verify I wrote a large check for more than I usually do. As long as they provide all the info and all I have to say is YES or NO, then we're both fine with the call.

Note: The IRS will NEVER call you. They use mail to contact you.
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by pondering »

I got in a standoff with a company that was trying to find my brother. They called. I asked why, they refused to answer. I asked them to not call again, and they have complied so far.
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tetractys
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by tetractys »

Any phone calls like that I assume are illegitimate and hang up. If there's any lingering doubt, I might initiate the contact later. Most likely I would report the number to the national do not call list. -- Tet
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by pondering »

Don't forget that you can trace the last incoming call in many areas by dialing *57

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious ... tification
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by mouses »

pondering wrote:Don't forget that you can trace the last incoming call in many areas by dialing *57

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious ... tification
*69 for just tracing. *57 is call trace to trap malicious caller ids for police reporting and will not tell you the phone number. There is a charge for *69.

I once got a phone call like the one the OP reports from Vanguard. I didn't supply the info but instead called vanguard back at their known correct number,. It was a legitimate call.
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by pondering »

The point is that caller id is unreliable, but technically all calls are traced since they are connected. A trace request allows people to capture the call being made without having to rely on the unreliable caller id.
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by Swansea »

I have a fund company I use who will call me after I email a request (account maintenance type stuff) to let me know it is completed or just to confirm my wishes. I take the call, and they never ask for SS# or any other sensitive information.
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by EvelynTroy »

My recent experience along these lines -
8 pm receive a call from a company saying they were company X, marketing company doing a survey for XX my brokerage company.
If I would take a survey, about 15 -20 min. I would receive a $100 Amazon gift card.
Didn't sound quite right to me, "thank you, but not interested" hung up. The area code was not same as the area my brokerage is located in. Wondering if legitimate, or if not perhaps my brokerage co. would like to know this solicitation was happening.

Phoned - they didn't know anything about it, but because it was after hours they would follow up with me next day. Turned out it was legitimate - brokerage had contracted with this firm to do research survey. I phoned the survey firm back and did receive the $100 gift certificate.

Brokerage thanked me for phoning - if not legitimate they surely wanted to know about it.
I would phone your Fund company during working hours and ask if they contacted you.

evelyn
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by pondering »

Companies need to develop a different strategy to reach out to consumers other than using outbound telemarketing.
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dm200
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by dm200 »

pondering wrote:I got in a standoff with a company that was trying to find my brother. They called. I asked why, they refused to answer. I asked them to not call again, and they have complied so far.
If this call was related to collecting a debt of his, then they probably would have been in violation of privacy rules/regulations if they had told you what the reason was.
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dm200
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by dm200 »

Unlike most "brokers", Vanguard never calls for sales/marketing reasons. An organization I manage (part time) buys a lot of brokered CDs and if we dealt with just about any reguar broker, the broker would be calling with "deals".

On rare occasions, I have received calls from Vanguard when there is something (or seems to be something) wrong, such as overdrawing the MM account, etc. Fortunately, that happens infrequently.
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dm200
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by dm200 »

pondering wrote:Companies need to develop a different strategy to reach out to consumers other than using outbound telemarketing.
I assume (bottom line) such a strategy using outbound telemarketing must be working, since the calls keep coming.

This (dishonest, IMO) technique is still going on:

Call to business:

[Telemarketer]: "May I speak with the person who handles your printers (or copiers)"

[Me]: "Speaking. I am the manager."

[Telemarketer]: "Could you give me the model numbers of your printers (or copiers), please."

[Me]: "Who are you and why do you want that information?"

[Telemarketer]: "We service or supply printer (or copier) cartridges to your company and we need an update on what you have."

[Me]: "That's interesting. I am the manager and we have no such contract with anyone, letalone you."

CLICK
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Re: How to know phone call from mutual fund company is legitimate?

Post by grabiner »

I have received such a call from Vanguard, and when I called Vanguard back, I let them know that this was a bad practice.

I wasn't home, so the call was a message on my answering machine, "This is John Doe from Vanguard. Please call back and 800-555-1234 concerning your IRA contribution." I couldn't associate the number with Vanguard, and a spear-phisher could have set up his own 800-number response system, so I called back on the main Vanguard number instead.
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