Scam attempt targets Hayden manufacturer's bank account

COEUR d'ALENE - A man speaking in a thick foreign accent called a bank here and identified himself as James Glenn, the president of Titan Spring Company Inc.

Speaking to an employee of Mountain West Bank, at 125 W. Ironwood Drive in Coeur d'Alene, the man requested a wire transfer of funds from a business account at the bank to Singapore.

Titan manufactures custom springs, stampings and other items for the aerospace, medical, telecommunications and electronics industries from its Hayden location at 11679 N. Warren St.

According to a Coeur d'Alene Police Department report, the fraudster provided a full business account number, the last four numbers of Glenn's social security number and the last four numbers of the employer identification number.

The bank employee, however, told the caller that the transfer wouldn't be done.

"You can't do a wire transfer with just information," Russ Porter, president and chief operating officer for Mountain West, said Wednesday. "It requires confirmation."

The caller didn't stop there, though.

He then requested copies of all deposits for the business account for the months of October and November. The bank attempted to fax that information to the number provided by the man.

After the man's initial call last week to request the wire transfer and deposit information, he called the bank again on Monday, identifying himself as Glenn.

This time, the man said he received only half of the faxed documents.

Mountain West then made a call of its own. It called Glenn, using contact information listed in the bank's computer system.

The bank discovered the man who identified himself as Glenn in the prior phone calls, wasn't him. Glenn informed the employee he had not contacted the bank.

Glenn couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Porter said the case demonstrates the importance of protecting private information.

"In this particular case, they had a lot of information," Porter said.

Sgt. Christie Wood, of the Coeur d'Alene police, said, "Somewhere along the line his (Glenn's) personal information has been compromised."

Wood said the department hasn't investigated other cases like this recently. So far, she said, the department doesn't have any solid leads in the case.

Porter said the bank spends a lot of money to stop fraud.

"There are (fraud) efforts every day," he said. "There's always a new way. It's never the same."

Wood recommended businesses or individuals check out the department's website, www.cdapolice.org, to find information on scams.