Visa/Mastercard Scam

[Razor]

Visa / MasterCard FRAUD
Just a heads up for everyone regarding the latest in Visa fraud. Royal Bank received this communication about the newest scam.
This is happening in the Midwest right now and moving.

This one is pretty slick since they provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want..

Note, 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 'MasterCard'.

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 pattern 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 last 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 last 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.
We made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account.
VISA is reissuing us a new number.
What the Scammer wants 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 Scammer 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 MasterCard' 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.
I dealt with a similar situation this morning, with the caller telling me that $3,097 had been charged to my account for plane tickets to Spain , and so on through the above routine..

It appears that this Is a very active scam, and evidently quite successful..
Pass this on to all your family and friends.

[warchild]

good post!

[FONZY007]

Thanks for the heads up

[lovbyts]

Thanks for the reminder. I already knew but explained it to the wife so she would be aware.

[jasc]

Thx for posting.. gonna have the gf read this

[Razor]

They emailed me from a spoof email too and tried to do this to me as well
..never give any information out to a caller or email..if need something addressed i call the bank myself and go through the authentication process over the phone or send them a secure email from the internal banking site.

[rj2k10]

I never give anything out over the phone or internet EVER - Thought it was the rule of thumb not to give details out over the phone, if somebody asked for my security number on the phone I'd ask for theirs first Thanks for the heads up though OP

[Swifto]

Just social engineering techniques.

Authority "Hi, I'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My Badge number is 12460"

Pretexting (inventing the scenario of there being fraud)

Reciprocation - Obligation (you are obligated to assist them)

Scaretactics (you do not want to lose any more money)

I could go one but you get the idea... More people should study social eingineering and its uses/techniques. I probably know more about it than I do steroids

You will never be advised to give the last 3 digits of your security number on the back of the card by your bank...Ever.

[lovbyts]

I have gotten in the habit of all those email scams phishing scams credit card scams I get via email I forward them to phishing dot u s.gov.

They have a site that is supposed to follow up on those scams.

[Shol'va]

The worse the economy gets, the more crooks look for new and better scams. There are sites on the net where you can purchase visa and mastercard numbers, promising to be good ones to use for fraud in exchange for anywhere from 50- 250 dollars. They hack into places of business that keeps their customers card numbers on file and rip them off and sell them on the net. It's a multibillion dollar business and The Russian mob is involved with it as well. Some folks are always looking for the easy way out stealing from anyone and everyone instead of just getting a frigging legit job like the rest of us. They don't care about the hassles they cause honest hard working people when they do this, making us have to cancel our cards and contact the card companies and contact the police. make reports. It's almost not worth having a credit card anymore and if they get to where the card companies make us fully responsible for the entire amount of stolen money from our cards then we all will be royally screwed!

[Wazz]

Thanks for the info! This scam never crossed my mind! I couldn't imagine ever giving my 3 digit #, but some scammers are good talkers....

Thanks again!

[dec11]

Thanks for the info! This scam never crossed my mind! I couldn't imagine ever giving my 3 digit #, but some scammers are good talkers....

Thanks again!

[Noles12]

Just got a call from a number claiming to be my banks fraud department. When I was transfered to a person I was told there was a 66 dollar transaction on my mastercard at a bus company in question. i asked what company and the person said she didnt know.

She then asked for my first and last name as well as my full card number. I told her I could give her the last 4 digits to verify my identity but I didnt feel the need to give my full account number or card number. She said well sir we need it to send you a new card. We also need your full address and last 4 of you social.

I told her to just send it to my address on file. She said she needed to verify it. I told her to run the address by me and I would tell her if it was correct or not. She said she could not do this for security reasons. I hung up and plan on calling the fraud department number on the back of the card to see if there are any issues

None of these supposed transactions even showed on my online banking.

[lovbyts]

Good reminder. As all of us would like to think we are smarter than that we all have our weak moments. I fell victim to one of the mail scams for ebay or paypal once but realized it in less than a minute and went in and changed my password before it was to late. I got lucky.

It's best to always be on the side of caution.

[Honkey_Kong]

Well, some people are easier to dupe than others in these scams. Old people fall for these credit card scams all the time. They're confused by technology and feeble-minded. I remember in the 1990's when everybody was still on dialup, even when it showed up on the bottom of the IM window "DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORD TO ANYBODY," people would still give out their passwords to anyone claiming to be an AOL moderator.

But that being said, a good scam artist knows what to say to convince you to do what they want. They're expert manipulators and they're usually not afraid to go to jail, so there is no nervous pressure on them.