Lower Interest Rate

Lower Interest Rate Scam: How It Works

(with recording of a real scammer below) The phone rings. You answer. An automated voice mentions the burden of high-interest rates and asks if you're interested in a lower interest rate for your credit card or mortgage.

If you are, you are required to “press 1”, or any other key. From there on, the automated service is just meant to collect your personal info and financial details. Alternatively, you are “given the chance to opt-out of receiving these notifications” and you are required to press “2”. Either way, you are sent back to the same crook ( a real person), who will try to collect your info. Sometimes criminals spoof the banks' phone numbers using specific software, so your caller ID shows the name of the bank!

Watch the video below to hear EXACTLY what the scammer says over the phone – recorded original pitch by a victim:

Lower Interest Rate Call Scam Video

 

Lower Interest Rate Scam: How To Avoid

Every call you receive that has an automated service should be hung up on. When banks or credit unions have special offers, a real person will call you directly.

 

Lower Interest Rate Scam: How To Report

Make your family and friends aware of this scam by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:

Report To The FTC Here

 

How to protect yourself more:

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodical emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.


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Selma HrynchukSelma is a fraud prevention specialist renowned for her expertise in private eye investigations and a remarkable partnership with law enforcement agencies. Beyond her investigative triumphs, her public speaking engagements and written works have empowered countless individuals to protect themselves and stay ahead of deceptive schemes. Selma's legacy shines as a tenacious agent of change, unyielding in her commitment to battling fraud and ensuring a safer world for all.

21 thoughts on “Lower Interest Rate”

  1. This SCAM has a new twist here — they’re spoofing local phone numbers to try and get you to answer. Still basically the same message, "…VISA/MasterCard Centre…your excellent payment history qualifies you for 0% interest on all your credit cards…" I always report these calls to the Canadian & American agencies. We get the same call multiple times a week, sometimes in a day — pressing 1 so that I can tell the person on the other end what I think of them doesn’t stop the calls but hopefully if enough people do that the idiots will find another job. If I have the time, I’ve got an old VISA gift-card and I’ll start giving them bogus information: fake name, scramble the card number, just to keep them on the phone and not bothering someone else.

  2. I like to lead them on, slowly, for a bit. After I give them a most of a credit card number, which is an amalgam of the first few digits of a real card followed by some digits more or less from thin air, I go in to the real offer.

    If they will come around the office tomorrow afternoon, I will gladly pull their heads off and relieve myself down their throats, and put their heads outside to serve as an example for the other phone scammers. All of this at no charge or at worst a minimal charge.

    Sometimes they get upset at the offer, despite its generosity. I have had one or two get stuck in a loop where they use a few unimaginative words over and over until I have to drop the call. Others hang up indignantly. To date, no one has appeared here to be shortened and displayed.

    If everyone will waste a minute or two and then insult them, it would make this sort of scam less profitable. Remember, the trained monkey on the other end of the line is not scamming old folks if he is talking to you and learning about great opportunities for physical alteration, or your views of his ancestry, or even the great value inherent in trying to get your credit card number right without swapping a few digits from a long-expired gas station gift card.

  3. Marjorie Rosenfeld

    Re the "lower-your-interest-rate-on-your-credit-card" scam," I’ve gotten so many of these calls so frequently I’ve decided to press 1 the next time this call comes and then scream as loudly as I can into the phone. I hope that will discourage the person on the other end from ever calling again. By the way, I’m on the National Do Not Call List and also have a block on my phone–but neither of these has prevented these calls. And yes, I get all these other scam calls and e-mail messages too.

  4. Just got a call from one of these low lifes. 774-219-3819 was his number. He even laughed at me and said "Oh Wow" like he couldnt believe I was hesitant to give him my CC number. Get a life.

  5. On Oct 23 I received a call from 2082275856 from2082275856asking about low interest rates on a card that I already had. I didn’t have a credit card so pressed one to find out what was going on when I got passed the automated service I asked if someone had opened up a card or what was going on? The man then replied "your a fucking idiot" then hung up..

  6. The phone number displayed was my own! So I picked up out of curiosity. Press 2 didn’t work, so I pressed 1. This makes someone unhappy as the calls are no doubt assigned in rotation so someone loses their turn/commission. Maybe eventually the ‘workers’ will get them to accept no call options. Probably not, but it seems I get fewer than I used to.

  7. Does it cost these scammers money to place the calls? I hope so, because after receiving these calls for years and pressing the number to be removed from the list to no avail I have started pressing 1 to increase the amount of time the call last. If everyone would press 1 to tie up their phone system maybe the cost of the calls would become prohibitive. Press 1, set the phone on the counter and walk away, 10 minutes later return and hang up the phone.

  8. All of these calls are SCAMS and originate from overseas using "spoofed" or "cloned" local phone numbers to make them appear legit on your call display. Pressing "X" to be removed accomplishes nothing, leaving you the choice of hanging up or staying on the line to waste as much of their time as possible. My record is keeping them going for 12 minutes by playing dumb, always answering their question with one of my own, having to let the dog out/in, etc. Now, I usually just grab one of our other cordless phones, turn it on, and place them speaker-to-mouthpiece to produce a great "feedback squeal" when their ‘real person’ comes on the line — haven’t had one of these calls now for over a month so this maybe works the best for getting rid of these calls. Nothing else has.

  9. I know that the below message is old, but I have to assume that if Smarter has been keeping a log since 2006, they probably still are. I would just say two things, why the heck would you spend the time to log these calls and if you’ve gotten 500 of these calls since 2006, doing the quick math, that’s 1.2 calls like this every week for 8 years! Either you have masochistic tendencies or an extreme tolerance for spam or more likely you just pulled that number out of thin air… If you have gotten any number of calls close to 500 I would say it’s time to dump that number…

    On Thursday, January 30, 2014, Smarter than the Criminals wrote:
    Since keeping a log of these calls starting in 2006, I believe I’ve gotten over 500 of these "lower your interest rate" calls, alone, along with all the other scams out there. Got a call from THIS number on 1/28/14 with NO name on CID and no msg. However, reports online indicate this is one of those Credit Card PHISHING SCAM calls. Then, less than 16 hours later, got a call from 310-449-7156 "LANGLEY PROD" on CID; also no msg left. But, others report this is ALSO a ‘lower interest rate’ CC PHISHING SCAM. Likely these two numbers originate from the same source, with SPOOFED numbers/IDs and probably actually from outside of the USA, which is why they are nearly impossible for our gov’t to stop or prosecute.

  10. I,to just received a call from a middle eastern person from (903) 848-2052 for an offer of lower interest rates, My question as well why can’t the FBI find these people and arrest them! He just said he had all my bank information on my cards, but wanted me to identify the 8 middle numbers, I asked him from what bank he was looking at the information from, he could not identify the bank, I cannot imagine how many people’s money is scammed from these banking terrorists!

  11. I got a call from the "press 9" recording also. I pressed 9 because I was interested in whether it was some shady sales pitch or an outright scam. After telling me I had $4000 in credit card debt, and that "they" were my credit card company, I told the female operator with a middle eastern perhaps Indian accent to This is clearly a scam. A bit of advice though, the number that appeared on my called ID was for a local legitimate business, don’t assume the caller ID you see is legitimate either, it probably isn’t. This scam group clones or copies the phone info from legitimate people, so don’t necessarily go posting the name and number that you get on your Caller ID, all over the internet.

  12. For several years I have received calls from different numbers offering to lower my credit card interest rates. I am hung up on when I ask to be removed from their list. The latest calls are from a number in San Antonio, Tx. When I told them this morning that they are a scam and do not call, they hung up and called again this afternoon and left a message about their services but no return call number. Why can’t the FBI trace and put these people out of business.

  13. I just got a call today from Desir Matthews 407-201-7464. A recording came on to lower interest rates press 9. It gave no other options. I pressed 9 and a man answered, I told him to remove me from the call list. He began to talk dirty and I asked for a manager. He changed his voice and continued to talk dirty then told me he didn’t care. I told him I was going to notify local authority. He hung up and I called back to a woman who answered the phone after the second try. Needless to say it was a scam she told me that was her residential number.

  14. Received unanswered call 6/13/14 @ 1400 hrs from 310 449 7156 on cell phone. Thanks to your help, won’t bother to call back.

  15. I just got a call from Norfolk, NE 402-844-7493 Message said, "This is the last time this offer will be made." They didn’t identify themselves as being with any banking institution so I didn’t press anything. I called back to see who would pick up the phone – no answer. It’s a scam

  16. Smarter than the Criminals

    Since keeping a log of these calls starting in 2006, I believe I’ve gotten over 500 of these "lower your interest rate" calls, alone, along with all the other scams out there. Got a call from THIS number on 1/28/14 with NO name on CID and no msg. However, reports online indicate this is one of those Credit Card PHISHING SCAM calls. Then, less than 16 hours later, got a call from 310-449-7156 "LANGLEY PROD" on CID; also no msg left. But, others report this is ALSO a ‘lower interest rate’ CC PHISHING SCAM. Likely these two numbers originate from the same source, with SPOOFED numbers/IDs and probably actually from outside of the USA, which is why they are nearly impossible for our gov’t to stop or prosecute.

  17. I just got a call from them. I hit #1 & got Sebastian Stevens. He said the company name was Card Services. I told him I’m on the Do Not Call List & I was reporting this call. He hung up.

  18. My wife and I were called several times for lowering Our interest rate by 6%, then I pressed 1/the order, then asked him what company he is from then hang up on me. the phone number was 1 858 729 4303.

  19. I recieved a call saying they could lower the interest rate on my credit card to 6% if I pressed 1. When I started asking questions about what company/card they quickly hung up. The number on caller ID was 760-242-8473

  20. This is at least the fourth time in recent months that i have received the automated message. It was ‘my last chance to have a lower interest rate!’ I pressed 1 to see what it was all about. I was transferred to a ‘live agent’ who asked me if I was using a VISA card and was my interest rate over 19%? I asked him to tell me where he was calling from and what company he represented. He hung up on me!

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