There is a new Credit Card scam that is being promoted by scammers. This one is pretty slick since they provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want – your CV number. Please read the information very carefully:

The callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it. This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA & MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you’ll be better prepared to protect yourself. One of our employees was called on Wednesday from “VISA”, and I was called on Thursday from “Master Card”. The scam works like this: Person calling says, “This is (name), and I’m calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I’m calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a Marketing company based in Arizona?” When you say “No”, the caller continues with, “Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pat tern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is
> that correct?” You say “yes”. The caller continues – “I will be starting a Fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 1- 800 number listed on the back of your card (1-800-VISA) and ask for Security. You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. “Do you need me to read it again?”

Here’s the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then says, “I need to verify you are in possession of your card.” He’ll ask you to “turn your card over and look for some numbers.” There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security Numbers’ that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him. After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he’ll say, “That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?” After you say, “No,” the caller then thanks you and states, “Don’t hesitate to call back if you do”, and hangs up. You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of $497.99 was charged to our card. Long story – short – we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account. VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don’t give it to them. Instead, tell them you’ll call VISA or Master card directly for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you’re receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your statement you’ll see charges for purchases you didn’t make, and by then it’s almost too late and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.

What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a “Jason Richardson of Master Card” with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA scam. This time I didn’t let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is happening. Please pass this on to all your family and friends.

You can read more about this at Snopes.com.

I have gotten emails from people (who are supposedly) in Nigeria or South Africa or China who tell me that they are the executor of a now deceased persons estate or that they control the funds of said person and need my help to get the money out of the country, promising me a handsome percentage if I help. Many times they ask me to get the money to my bank account then send it to them (less my commission, of course). Or get this one: A person claiming to be from a particular religious calling in some African country (these are the most popular ones) who addresses me in the mighty name of [which ever deity or god that is being worshipped] claiming to be some kind of leader who can ‘help me help myslelf’ by doing them a little favour. And then money is brought into the argument and the tales of what how to get it, etc., etc., etc. are layed out on the table.

As far as I am concerned, all these emails cry ‘foul’! What I have noticed is that all the emails have the same structure and are rife with incorrect spelling and poor language structure. Punctuation marks are in places where they don’t belong, for example: “Please help, me with this business. transaction as I cannot do; it by myself.” Paragraph formation is also very poor. Now, I would think that if someone was looking for a business partner in a foreign country that they would at least get someone who knows English well to setup the email for them.

Here are a few ways in which you can identify fraudulent emails:

1. Poor punctuation and spelling, lots of grammatical errors, and lack of cohesiveness (note that there are emails that can be genuine and have these inconsistencies, though the majority are frauds).
2. You get an email telling you that you won a lottery that you never entered. Most end up asking you to send them some money so that they can send you your winnings. When you ask them to take the money needed to send the winnigs out of your ‘winnings’, they usually claim that the money is in an escrow account which they cannot touch. Please, give me a break!
3. Emails from sources not known to you that request personal details, like username and password and address, etc. Most times these are phishing emails.
4. Emails that are sent by different people but have similar structure and errors.
5. Emails claiming to be from reputable people or websites but whose images and links lead nowhere near the website of whom they claim to represent.
6. Emails telling you that you have won an iPod or TV or free satellite system, but then goes on to ask for personal info so they can send you your prize. Again, this is all part of phishing.

Look out for these types of email and if the site they claim to represent has a way of reporting these emails to them, please do so. PayPal has that feature as part of their efforts to clamp down on fraudulent emails sent in their name.

Post sponsored in part by Just Answer – Get Your Questions Answered! and Melatrol – Insomnia Relief

Press Release
February 14, 2007

We all, at one time or another, have gotten e-mails from the so-called Paypal website, from the so-called eBay site, Hotmail, Yahoo!, and more. What kind of e-mails am I talking about? The ones that tell you something is wrong with your account and that you need to submit some info about yourself to prevent it from being closed down. We all know, though, that the real sites would never send such a request via e-mail. Well, there is a new one out, this time claiming to come from e-Gold. Below is the message I got over the weekend, which I am asking all to look out for:

To: [my e-mail address]
Subject: Your E-gold account will be suspended
From: “Costumer Service E-Gold” [support@e-gold.com]
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 05:01:05 -0500

[e-gold logo]

Dear E-gold customer

We regret to inform you that your E-gold account could be suspended if you don’t re-update your account information. To resolve this problems please click here and re-enter your account information. If your problems could not be resolved your account will be suspended for a period of 24 hours, after this period your account will be terminated.

For the User Agreement, Section 9, we may immediately issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend or terminate your membership and refuse to provide our services to you if we believe that your actions may cause financial loss or legal liability for you, our users or us. We may also take these actions if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us.

Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using E-gold in any way. This includes the registering of a new account. Please note that this suspension does not relieve you of your agreed-upon obligation to pay any fees you may owe to E-gold.

Regards,Safeharbor Department E-gold, Inc
The E-gold team.
This is an automatic message. Please do not reply.

What is interesting, as usual is that the part that says ‘click here’ never points to the real website. In this particular e-mail, it pointed to a website at http://www.scholarswithoutborders.in/images/egold/index.html (you donnot have to click on the link to see that it goes there. Just hover you mouse pointer over ‘click here’ and you will see it). Beware of this e-mail. It is NOT from E-gold.

Internet fraud is fast becoming one of the means by which criminals fleece millions of dollars from unsuspecting online shoppers. This occurs when persons use their credit cards to do business over the internet and these thieves in one way or another steal the credit card number, expiry date, and CV code from the users computer or intercept a transaction and capture the said data. The main way persons find out that their credit card has been used by someone else is when the bill comes and they see purchases that they did not make.

This brings us to the point about identity theft. When someone uses your credit card number to make a purhcase, they are in fact pretending to be you, meaning they have stolen your identity. As such, any action done with your CC will make it appear as if you are the one buying up a lot of things. Many persons have had their cards maxed out by internet fraudsters. However, many of the banks must be commended for their increased vigilance in this area as they have spotted numerous attempts by people who have tried to use another persons card to do transactions.

Here is a classic example of what one bank found. John is an 85 year old pensioner who has severe arthritis and lives at home with his wife Enid in the southern United States. He is well known to the bank he joined as he has been a member for over 50 years. John usually uses his credit card to purchase medication online which is later delivered to his door. One day, John receives a call from the bank asking him if he was recently in Hawaii and purchased a set of skiis and some bowling balls. “Of course not. I can hardly make it to my front door much less Hawaii. And I can’t even lift a bowling ball with all my pain!”, John replied. The bank then told him that someone had tried to use his card to make that purchase. They however declined the transaction because they knew John had no need for those items. He was very relieved.

We have to give a big shout of respect to banks like thay who look out for their customers. So, please be vigilant in your use of credit cards online. One suggestion that I would like to make is if there other payments options available, like PayPal or E-Gold, on the website where you want to make a purchase, by all means use them. This is becuase you do not have to enter sensitive data, like your CC number and so on. All you would need to do is log in, make your payment, and you are good to go!

Shop online with care. Try not to be the next victim.

The prevalence of Information Phishing online today is quite alarming. Many of us have received emails that are supposedly from a particlar individual or company requesting that we take a particular action involving submitting personal information to them. But before we continue, let us define Phishing.

A direct quote from webopedia defines it this way: Phishing is “the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.”

So, to make these phishing e-mail messages look even more legitimate, the scam artists may place a link in them that appears to go to the legitimate Web site, but in fact it actually takes you to a phony scam site or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. Another name given to these copycat sites is a “spoofed” Web sites. Once you are at one of these spoofed web sites, you might unwittingly send personal information to the con artists who are running the scam.

How can you tell if an e-mail message is fraudulent. Microsoft offers this advice:

Here are a few phrases to look for if you think an e-mail message is a phishing scam:

“Verify your account.”
Businesses should not ask you to send passwords, login names, Social Security numbers, or other personal information through e-mail.

“If you don’t respond within 48 hours, your account will be closed.”
These messages convey a sense of urgency so that you’ll respond immediately without thinking. Phishing e-mail might even claim that your response is required because your account might have been compromised.

“Dear Valued Customer.”
Phishing e-mail messages are usually sent out in bulk and often do not contain your first or last name.

“Click the link below to gain access to your account.”
HTML-formatted messages can contain links or forms that you can fill out just as you’d fill out a form on a Web site. The links that you are urged to click may contain all or part of a real company’s name and are usually “masked,” meaning that the link you see does not take you to that address but somewhere different, usually a phony Web site.

Be proactive and look out for e-mail messages that may be part of a phishing scam. I hope that this post has served as a guide to help you protect yourself from fraudulent e-mails.