Over the past couple of days, several people in the Lawrence area have been receiving fraudulent phone calls from an automated system asking for personal information.

Numerous Lawrence residents said when they answered a call in the middle of the night this weekend, they were greeted by an unfamiliar voice.

“Indicating to people their account has been suspended, they need to call and eight hundred number so they can verify things, when they call they're asked to verify their account information, which banks would never do,” said Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson.

“It was a strange call, kind of garbled, but i had trouble understanding the phone number at one thirty in the morning, but that was it, they just said you're visa card's been cancelled, call this number,” said Darlene Lantz, scam victim.

Not knowing whether the automated voice had legitimate ties to their account information, some people did call the number back.

“It sounded more like a business automated phone than what called the night before, so I don't know if it was an actual business or what, but i couldn't get anybody on the line,” said Lantz.

Two types of calls have been reported so far.

The scam artist either requests account information relating to a Visa credit card account or a KU Credit Union account.

“If they can get a few people they can do a lot of damage and make a lot of money quick,” said Branson.

The D.A. says this is one of the most aggressive scams even he's experienced. He says the people behind it are targeting a large percentage of the Lawrence population just by claiming to be part of the KU Credit Union.

“They're going to the community where they can actually connect it with something going on,” said Ginger Wehner, Vice President KU Credit Union.

The KU Credit Union says about handful of their clients have fallen victim to this scam, and given away their personal information.

“In which they go in and access the account through their debit or credit card numbers they have been given and drain their funds,” said Wehner.

The D.A. reiterates how important it is not to give out personal information by phone or on the internet.

Stolen money from this scam has already been traced to countries outside the United States.

If you think you might be victim to this scam you should contact your bank right or credit union right away.