08453 510 124 - Is this a halifax scam number?

sieve · 12 April 2009 at 2:32PM

It isn't a scam. I used to go abroad frequently to strange countries and within about 30 seconds of me trying to use my card to withdraw cash from an ATM, this number would phone me on my mobile to confirm that the transaction (and the last 5 transactions on the account which it gave full details of including exactly where and when) were genuine.

It never asked me to enter my full date of birth (just the month and year), never asked for any other dodgy details like mother's maiden name, and as soon as I'd completed the call and verified the transactions, I could use my card again.

So it IS genuine and if you can prove me wrong I will eat my own hat!

LittleVoice · 12 April 2009 at 4:44PM

Sounds reasonable to me.

Halifax calling two separate numbers that relate to you provided you know Halifax have these two numbers (you can log in and check BTW).

If you call back, they need the phone number you are calling from (as long as it is one of the two) so that they can check back to your account.

But, if you are concerned, contact the fraud department - or don't bother and just find your account has been blocked and you can't spend your money or use your card. Or that fraudulent transactions are allowed and you have to get it sorted out.

purplepurple · 12 April 2009 at 8:46PM

Thanks so much to everyone that has posted.... we haven't used our halifax credit card for anything other than our internet provision (£15 a month) for absolutely ages.... but bought fence panels etc for £600 odd on wednesday... perhaps it's that?
I'll phone the fraud number and see if I can speak to a human being rather than an automated voice to see what's going on!

Thanks again

beccam · 12 April 2009 at 8:55PM

I know I had a similar automated call from MBNA, once I had confirmed details it out me through to the fraud dept who asked had I been in America as a transaction had been attempted. Answer being no so card was stopped and new account issued.

agsnu · 12 April 2009 at 9:01PM

never-in-doubt wrote: »

so you mean the credit card verification dept? The ones that are open 24/7 365? They would have rung at the point of sale or declined the sale pending the OP ringing them (if done online). Sorry, its not a genuine number - its unheard of and other users have reported it as spam (even the bank themselves have!). If you could substantiate that claim or retract it - thanks?

thanks to CarolT2 for this link: http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08453510124

If you actually read that link you'll see that there are a whole bunch of people claiming both are true.

The ones claiming that it's a scam appear to have been told by branch staff that it's not a known number and that they don't think Halifax would do this.

The ones claiming that it isn't a scam appear to be saying they've actually contacted the fraud department and had it confirmed.

So I guess if you believe that branch staff aren't clueless idiots, OMG IT'S A SCAM RUN AROUND SCREAMING AAAAGH.

If you believe that it's actually a bona fide fraud protection transaction notification/verification system (documented here, using the technology from Adeptra) which Halifax's Fraud Department confirm the existence of, and which uses an 0845 number which it would probably be hard to run illegitimately for any period of time (due to the fact that there clearly has to be a paper trail to set one up), then HALIFAX ARE TRYING TO CONTACT YOU TO VERIFY POTENTIALLY DODGY TRANSACTIONS.

clueless1682 · 12 April 2009 at 9:14PM

never-in-doubt wrote: »

so you mean the credit card verification dept? The ones that are open 24/7 365? They would have rung at the point of sale or declined the sale pending the OP ringing them (if done online). Sorry, its not a genuine number - its unheard of and other users have reported it as spam (even the bank themselves have!). If you could substantiate that claim or retract it - thanks?

thanks to CarolT2 for this link: http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08453510124

I'm not one for giving out info on myself for fear of abuse, but I work for Halifax, in their fraud dept (in a different area to this one), and this is a legit number. They will want to verify a card transaction. If you call the normal tel banking line, they won't have access to the system to check what the transaction is so won't be able to help much. By what the OP has said, if they haven't used it recently themselves, its likely something dodgy is going on with the card. As a precaution, you may want to cancel the card as the dept you need to speak to probably isn't open till Tuesday, though the system thats used should prevent the transaction in question to go through.
The number isn't well known, despite it being communicated to staff so the reponse will vary depending on what staff you speak to.

Hope this helps

LittleVoice · 13 April 2009 at 12:25AM

purplepurple wrote: »

Thanks so much to everyone that has posted.... we haven't used our halifax credit card for anything other than our internet provision (£15 a month) for absolutely ages.... but bought fence panels etc for £600 odd on wednesday... perhaps it's that?
I'll phone the fraud number and see if I can speak to a human being rather than an automated voice to see what's going on!

Thanks again

Yes. That's it, obviously. An unusual transaction on your account. A large single payment when normally you have one regular small one.

You made the purchase on Wednesday and get phone calls on Saturday - I'm just surprised they didn't try phoning earlier.

purplepurple · 13 April 2009 at 5:53PM

Well we phoned the fraud number and it asked us to verify a transaction to Virgin mobile of £20 (on a debit card) ... not the £600 to wickes (on the credit card).... strange

It didn't ask for any personal details apart from date of birth.....

.....thanks so much for your replies and advice

agsnu · 13 April 2009 at 6:48PM

Not that strange... Mobile top-ups are often done by fraudsters to test card details before. Unusual mobile top-ups are often an indication that your card has been compromised.

mathsstudent · 2 June 2009 at 9:49AM

I got a call from this number this morning, once on my home number and again on my mobile, rang Halifax on their main number and they said it's genuine.

08453 510 124 - Is this a halifax scam number?

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