Lang
7/2/25
The Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents about a new banking scam.
A victim reported on Tuesday that they had received a phone call from a male with an accent. The phone number showed up as the local branch of the victim’s bank. The male on the phone already knew the victim’s debit card information, including the CCV number on the back. The male requested a social security number from the victim, which was not given.
The victim then received fraud alerts via text messages on her phone. Several fraudulent charges were made to the victim’s account while they were on the phone, which came up on their bank account as “PAGOPA CHECKOUT MILANO IT”. An investigation determined the changes were made in Milano, Italy and that PagoPA is a payment system used there, similar to PayPal.
The victim’s financial institution told them this type of activity had been occurring recently with several other account holders. The Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office says to hang up and report the call and any other suspicious banking activity to your financial institution.