Possible Visa and MasterCard scam

Myron_2

I'm only quoting what I read in an Internet NewsGroup. Thought it may be helpful being posted here.

Staff should be aware of a credit card scam where someone will ring you at home claiming to be from the Security Fraud Department of Visa or Mastercard. The caller will ask you whether you have made a purchase for an expensive item (slightly under £500) and during the conversation he / she will say that they'll arrange for a credit to your credit card account for that amount. They say that they'll initiate an investigation and that they need to verify that you are in possession of the card and will ask the numbers on the reverse.

The last three digits are the security numbers that you need to purchase items from the Internet and it is these three digits that the caller is trying to obtain.

Visa and Mastercard will never require that information because they already hold it. Visa are instructing their customers to report these calls to the Police.

Reaper

Sounds very similar to a chain letter which has been doing the rounds for years.

There is some genuine sense in it. A scammer may have some of your details and use tricks like this to get the rest. I guess that's why the chain letter has been so successful. However there is no new recent threat as far as I am aware. A scammer can easily get your basic credit card details from a receipt thrown in a public bin, but I'd imagine it is much harder to get your telephone number.

As a rule you shouldn't give out security info on the phone unless you are sure you know who you are talking to. There is another thread talking about whether you should give your password out when your internet bank calls you. I guess it's safest to get their name & department and call them back yourself using the normal credit card/bank phone number if you have any doubts.

Myron_2

Yeh, it's a little like I treat calls to where I work. I'm an I.T. administrator and sometimes I get calls what are surveys, or marketing calls. Usually go something like . . .

Q. How many employees on site?
A. About 30
Q. How many computers on site?
A. About 20
Q. What AntiVirus solution is used?
A. Sorry, that is classified information.
Caller's response: "But it's a required question."
My response: The phone gets hung up.

Why can't everyone just learn to hang-up the phone. Oh well . . .

deemy2004

The cold callers really waste a lot of time !!!

Need laws to be passed !

student100

This has been discussed in another thread just below this one: here