Victim Location 44420
Type of a scam Identity Theft
My husband and I were in Target in Niles, OH. We had just made a purchase and were about to walk through the mall when an *** *** male, about 20 years old, short hair, dressed business casual, about 6 feet tall, walked near us and commented on how cool my husband’s shoes were. He started conversation with us and was very talkative, asking about where we are from, what school we went to, what our hobbies are… he was phishing for information. We didn’t realize this until after my husband had already given him his phone number and name, as he felt like it was rude not to and just wanted the man to go away. There was also another man wandering around us the entire time- he was ***, about 20 years old, *** *** *** *** ***. He kept walking behind us and to each side, pretending to shop. He would pick stuff up and walk to the other side of us, and put stuff down.
Once we walked out of Target and into the mall, we talked about how weird it was and walked through the other side of the mall to leave so we didn’t run into them again. He texted us with his "name." We saw the *** *** gentleman in the parking lot walking to his car. It was a maroon sedan, though I didn’t get the make or model because I was so shook up. We called the Niles police, Target security (who had been aware of the man), and our cell provider to change my husband’s number. We let them know about the scam, as well. It’s called cell phone porting, which is legitimate when you honestly need to use it, but can easily be used as a scam. Please be aware of this, and if someone is asking you strange questions which sound similar to password recovery questions, walk away.