Was it Vishing? Maybe not but I still would not give them my information

I just received a phone call from a lady purporting to be from MBNA bank, and offering me and my wife a new "Platinum Mastercard". I strung her along and listened to the pitch - and when she finally got to the point of saying "upon approval" I knew that in fact, rather than telling me that we were about to get these cards, that this was actually a sales call by a company looking to make a commission on my signup.

Or, they could have been crooks looking to get my information to use themselves to apply for credit in my name - VISHING - how could I tell?

I first tried to let the lady simply confirm as I suspected that she had much of the information in front of her. Instead of telling her my birthdate, I asked her to tell me what she had, and said I would tell her if that was correct. This gave her an opportunity to give me something false to test if I was actually knowledgeable on the subject and confirm that I was who she thought I was - a bit of a double check. I doubt she really cared but it was worth a try anyway.

It turned out that she didn't have the information, and the conversation devolved from there to why I would not answer, and the circumstances under which I would.

1 - she had phoned me, so I had no idea whether she was in fact representing MBNA Canada.

2 - she tried to give me a toll-free number that I could call back to - but of course there was no independent way that I could confirm that this number was in any way connected to MBNA Canada. She gave me the web site (www.mbna.ca) and I did a "whois" on it - by this time fully expecting that it would be legitimate and it was. I then looked at the site and looked for any instance of the number she gave me - no such luck.

Failing this test, I decided to push a bit farther and asked to speak to her supervisor. He came on and was very understanding of what I was telling him and promised to write up my suggestion that they have some independent means to verify that people should in fact be talking to them. I hung up and started this article.

Then I had an idea that should have come to me while I was still talking to him - I looked up the number in Google - and found it!

If these people had simply said "Google the number and look for the document under www.mbna.com describing the application process for Canada" - then have me call that number to apply, things would have worked out the way they should.

Of course it is still possible that a really well organized gang might plant such a page and wait for Google to list it - then do the Vishing, but the chances of such a page going undetected are fairly minimal - and there are all manner of other references to the number in pages that obviously deal with other MBNA business interests, including customer web sites where pages for "partnerships" are detailed.

In this case I can be assured that it was not a Vishing expedition.

Do you answer any/all questions someone asks on a call they have initiated? I hope not, unless you can independently verify that they are who they purport to be. Only then will you be (fairly) assured that your information is not going to the wrong people.

Practice your personal information privacy policy.
It gets better. I called the number (1-888-876-6262) and, after waiting for their voice front end to finally admit that I didn't really need to enter my account (which I obviously don't have) and let me talk to a live representative.

This guy let me confirm that he knew me and that I was who I said I was in a very professional and interesting manner. He asked me if my phone number was still the same... "the one you are calling me from" - without telling me what it was or me having to tell him what it was.

He also gave me just enough of my address that I could confirm that he knew it - and I filled in a small bit to him.

The young man mentioned that I had had an account previously - which triggered me to look for my file on it - found! I had cut up the card because they wanted an annual fee and I didn't need another card badly enough to pay. The offer I had had today was for no annual fee and some time at "0%" interest - which passes my test for whether I want a card. I asked for this offer and was told he couldn't do it - but he'd pass me to someone who could (he thought)

It turned out that the lady in Ottawa he passed me to also could not give me this offer. She "didn't have the code for that offer" so I told her that no, I was not interested, please pass me to her supervisor as I wanted to carry this a bit farther. Hmmm. no supurvisor on the floor and many appologies - would I call back in the morning (Sunday?) - OK - I guess I will - and of course write about it here. She took my details and added a link to this blog to send to her superiors. Hey - anything that helps is OK.