Woman talks to bank, avoids scam effort

It sounded official; it didn’t add up.

That was Catherine Olmstead’s after-the-fact assessment of a call she received Tuesday from a man claiming to work for the State Department of Federal Credit Unions wanting to collect money owed on an outstanding payday loan.

The man, who Olmstead said told her his name was “Griffin Bell,” told the 53-year-old Brush Prairie woman she owed $5,484 in taxes and government fees on a $300 payday loan.

“He would settle for $375 if I went to my bank and agreed to pay that amount to resolve the case,” said Olmstead, who sorted through the man’s claims with a manager at the Bank of America branch in Orchards. “He also said I needed to send him my name, bank card number, PIN, everything.”

She said her bank looked through her records and found she never took out the described loan. A manager there called the man to let him know records didn’t support his account. Nonetheless, he persisted.

“He called and threatened me again this morning after my bank manager talked to him,” Olmstead said.

She also contacted the State Department of Federal Credit Unions, which she said told her this man has “taken in over 100 people.”

On the organization’s website Wednesday was a page headed: “Security Alert: Phone Scam.”

The alert said, “It has come to the attention of State Department Federal Credit Union that members may be receiving unsolicited phone calls/texts from people posing as SDFCU collections. These calls/texts are scams and are trying to steal member information or have you make payments.”

It continued, “Please BE AWARE, these are scams and staff at SDFCU is investigating the situation. Remember, SDFCU will never solicit confidential member information from you.”

Olmstead contacted The Columbian Wednesday because, she said, “I just want people aware of it.”