Scammers keep getting trickier and trickier. It’s getting to the point that we shouldn’t trust anyone.
Recently, a warning was sent by email to members of a local neighborhood website. The warning told anyone reading it that the new scam would come from someone claiming to be from your credit card company. The individual sounds very believable, and you will be given a lot of your personal information that will help persuade you that the caller is from your credit card company. The caller will advise you that there has been some apparent fraudulent activity on your credit card – you might be asked, “Did you recently agree to purchase a security program for your computer for $499.99?” Naturally, the caller is hoping you’ll say “no.” When you do, you will be told a credit will be issued and a claim will be filed on your behalf.
The caller will carry on a conversation with you to help make you feel confident that this is a real situation. After a little bit, the caller will ask you for some numbers on the back of your card, including the security code – that is the purpose of the call, to gain the security code for your card. The caller will make you feel he or she is on your side and convince you not to worry about the problem.
The next time you receive your bill for your credit card, you will find several charges made to your account, and by the time you see them, you may not have time to file a claim.
Maybe worse than the charges on your card is that you will have to cancel your current card and wait for a new one to arrive at your home. Then you’ll have to call any companies you have on automatic payments to give them your new number.
Until recent years, I didn’t do a lot of business with a credit card, but over the years, that changed. Some of the reasons for switching from writing checks each month to pay bills to paying automatically with my credit card are that the credit card pays a 2% cash back benefit – I know that’s not a lot, but if you put $2,000 on a card each month, you get back $40. A bigger reason is that having your electric, phone, and gas bills paid automatically with your credit card means you don’t need to remember to write the check and then mail it – that gets more and more important each year your memory starts to fade.
Be careful giving your personal information to anyone; the wrong person can make your life a bit miserable.
Have A Good Week!
