Newest and Latest SCAM!

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LovelyLadyLux
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Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

BE ON THE ALERT, THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS COMING NEW SCAM

Just when you think you've heard it all. Here comes another scam. This
scam is very clever. Be very careful out there! One could easily fall for
this - beware of people bearing gifts!

There is a new and clever credit card scam. Please circulate this.
Someone it happened to says it works like this:

Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone who said that he was
from some outfit called: "Express Couriers" asking if I was going to be
home because there was a package for me, and the caller said that the
delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. And sure enough,
about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a beautiful
basket of flowers and wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve
any special occasion or holiday, and I certainly didn't expect anything
like it. Intrigued about who would send me such a gift, I inquired as to
who the sender is. The delivery man's reply was, he was only delivering
the gift package, but allegedly a card was being sent separately; (the
card has never arrived!). There was also a consignment note with the gift.

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there
was a $3.50 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the
package to an adult, and not just left it on the doorstep where it could
be stolen or taken by anyone.

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the
company required the payment to be by credit or debit card only so that
everything is properly accounted for.

My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled his wallet out
of his pocket with the credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man",
asked my husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which
had a small screen and keypad where Frank was also asked to enter the
card's PIN and security number. A receipt was printed out and given to us.

To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday,
$4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various
ATM machines.

It appeared that somehow the "mobile credit card machine" which the
delivery man carried now had all the info necessary to create a "dummy"
card with all our card details after my husband swiped our card and
entered the requested PIN and security number.

Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we
immediately notified the bank which issued us the card, and our
credit/debit account was closed.

We also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is
definitely a scam because several households had been similarly hit.

WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package", which you
neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any
kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also,
never accept anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper
identification of who the sender is.

Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit
card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!


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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Grandad »

It gets more scary LLL and we have to be SO alert to these scams.

But how can you sort the genuine from the scams? Fairly simple really, NEVER divulge details of credit/debit cards to anyone other than transactions that YOU initiate. Even then there are risks because if ordering goods on line, you have to quote the security number, (not the PIN) and how trustworthy is the person at the end of the phone or online request???

Back to bank cheques and money under the mattress I suppose. :)
:gg:
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Horus »

That is the problem with most online purchases Grandad when they ask for the 3 digit PIN on the back, just how safe is that? as you say it's all down to the honesty of the person taking the order. Fortunately the only card I ever use online or over the phone will always have a pop up that appears from my own bank and it also askes me to imput some randomly chosen letters and numbers from a previously agreed password with them, so I suppose that is another tier of security. :urm:
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Grandad »

I often have the same procedure to follow Horus and that does give some added confidence.

I don't know if this is a good option but I do have a Paypal account and I am finding more and more retailers, even big high street names, are offering Paypal as a payment method. One of the advantages, as I see it, is that you DO NOT have to declare any of your credit/debit card details to the retailer.
:gg:
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I'm starting to use Paypal more and more as it seems more secure than having your Credit Card info out there with each and every individual store and retailer.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by cornelia »

Thanks for the heads up! It's terrifying what the scammers are capable of just to get their hands on other people's money. I've read about their different schemes and while most of their plots were really obvious, some are convincing enough. So it's a good thing that you post information like this so everyone is updated.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by cornelia »

I found similar cases reported to Callercenter and from the number of posts, it looks like this particular scam has already happened to different parts of the country.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

Actually, I'm going to be extremely blunt here! Anyone who pays for an unsolicited 'gift' - especially with a card, on their own doorstep, has got to be out of their tiny mind! :td Sorry if my opinion upsets anyone (the last thing I intend) but this particular 'scam' sounds as though it belongs on Snopes!
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Horus »

You won't offend me RS, in fact I agree with you :up anyone who falls for something as supid as this deserves to get conned. Some scams are very sophisticated, but some are not and it's about time people started to take responsibility for their own stupidity :stp The dead giveaway was that you only need to provide the 3 digit PIN if the cardholder is not present at the transaction, ie over the telephone.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Quite agree with both of you (RS and Horus) but I can envisage some situations of people getting taken in.

My example is that a few months ago now my son-in-laws Grandma who is in her mid-90ies got an urgent phone call from her Grandson. He had an urgent problem and needed $3000 which Grandma immediately provided. Course it wasn't her Grandson at all but some evil cretin who was scamming very elderly seniors. This was all reported to police and I don't know the outcome yet.

My point is that if a parcel arrived for "Grandma" or "Grandpa" from a grandchild it is highly likely the Grandparent would pay thinking their grandchild forget to pay the charges etc. I'm pretty sure my Mom and Dad would have. Given their ages they were simple people and really not at all that sophisticated re: scams. They're both passed on now recently but they had NO sense of cyber world and I know my brother and I always had a sense they could be easily scammed and often talked to them about NOT giving anybody anything unless WE vetted it first.

Now if we're talking the likes of us (in our age bracket) or younger - those of us that ARE in cyber world we should know better and personally I'd never pay for an unsolicited gift - but if I thought it came from a relative or close friend I just might have. Not now that I've read about this scam but I might have.

Always amazes me at what scams come out of the wood work. It is like you have to read daily to know what is OK and what is not!!
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Horus »

I will conceed that the elderly can be and are easy targets for these scumbags due to their (usually) lack of understanding of modern technology and their belief in a better side to their fellow man.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

If the credit/debit card was put through a machine, the 3 numbers on the back wouldn't be necessary surely? They would certainly come unstuck with me, I think, because I don't have a chip and pin card. On the subject of age, well, Grandad isn't exactly in the first flush of youth, so let's ask him if he thinks he is typical of his age group, mentally. No offence meant, Grandad! :D
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

If the credit/debit card was put through a machine, the 3 numbers on the back wouldn't be necessary surely? They would certainly come unstuck with me, I think, because I don't have a chip and pin card. On the subject of age, well, Grandad isn't exactly in the first flush of youth, so let's ask him if he thinks he is typical of his age group, mentally. No offence meant, Grandad! :D
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Grandad »

Ruby Slippers wrote:On the subject of age, well, Grandad isn't exactly in the first flush of youth, so let's ask him if he thinks he is typical of his age group, mentally. No offence meant, Grandad! :D
And none taken RS. 80 in three weeks time and very flattered when people pay me the compliment of saying 'I would have thought you were only late sixties'
So, on that basis and the fact that I am quite 'in touch' with all the modern electronic stuff and am very alert to scams, I suppose I am not your average eighty year old. Even my neighbours who are mid seventies, do not have a mobile phone and pay everything by cash or cheque. Nothing wrong with that but it does perhaps illustrate the variations within the same age group.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Horus »

RS I did say in my own reply
The dead giveaway was that you only need to provide the 3 digit PIN if the cardholder is not present at the transaction, ie over the telephone.
so I agree with you that in itself should be a giveaway. Reference older people (of whom I am one) I do think that there is a severe divide between those who at some point embraced the modern technology and use it all the time and those who are forced to use it by whatever means (banks etc) energy and phone companies, many of whom do not seem to be able to function without call centers and button option pressing which confuses many of the older generation.
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Re: Newest and Latest SCAM!

Post by Ruby Slippers »

For some unknown reason - maybe old age! :lol: - this thread is still playing on my mind! A couple more thoughts:

1. If you ordered flowers, the florist is very unlikely to offer a bottle of wine with them. If they did and you were standing in front of them and paying by card, they would swipe your card to the full amount.

2. If you ordered over the phone, you would already have given the security numbers from the back of the card.

3. If the regular mail company had something for you, they would leave a card informing you of the fact; where you can collect and when, and also how much it will cost in extra postage. (I know this for a fact, because my SIL sent a card without enough postage and Royal Mail charged an extra £1.09 on top and we had to go to the depot to collect it! :( )

I'm in the 'older' category too, but my brain still functions -I think! :lol:
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