For the second time in about six months, scammers are targeting customers of a local bank.  It appears they're having some success.

The ruse is a take off on the old email fishing scam.  Instead, the scam artists are calling people at home.  An automated message says the person's West Bend Savings account has been compromised.  It gives a number to call.  When people call the number they are prompted to key in their account and pin number and then to enter a new one.  When the customer enters the number, the crook has their information and steals their money.

Amy Wiedmeyer fell for the scam.  She tells Newsradio 620 WTMJ that she got a call on Saturday night.  Her husband was on a trip to Ohio, and she thought his card might have actually been compromised.  This week she got a call from her bank.  The scam artists were able to withdraw $1,200 before the bank caught on and shut down her account.

West Bend Savings Chief Operating Officer Rick Larson says the information they have indicates the calls started over the weekend.  So far as the bank can tell, thousands of the calls have been generated.  "Residents of Dodge, Washington and Ozaukee County have been receiving [the] random calls," Larson said.

It's important to point out, none of West Bend Savings' information has actually been compromised.  Instead, the scammers are calling numbers in the area where the bank does business hoping to randomly get some West Bend customers.

Larson says they're working with local authorities and the phone companies.  As they hear numbers that are being used, they're getting those numbers shut down.

Part of what makes this scam seem plausible, the numbers the scammers are calling from are 262 numbers.  They're Internet based, meaning the scammers aren't actually here, but they appear to be.  Caller ID on the initial call also says the call is from West Bend Savings.

Larson says if you ever get a call like that, it's important to slow down.  He says if the bank knows your information has been compromised, it's already going to be working to protect you, so you won't need to race into anything.  Larson says banks never call and ask for your account number, they already have that.

West Bend was the target of a similar scheme in December.  At that time, Larson's wife actually got one of the calls.

He says this time, it appears fewer people have fallen for the scam.