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.

Look out for the following email that claims to be from Amazon (it is definitey NOT from Amazon). It is a phishing email that is designed to steal your Amazon and credit card information. I got it in my email inbox today, so beware of the following email (un-edited and copied straight from my inbox):

From : Amazon.com, Inc.
Sent : Wednesday, March 28, 2007 6:59 PM
Subject : Dear Amazon Customer

Thank you for using Amazon!
The Amazon Team

Remember that Amazon does not request such information via email as their TOS clearly shows.

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.