I just got an email from my company regarding a new scam that is going through the US and Canada right now regarding mastercard/ Visa. * Please read*

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 southern Alberta 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 were 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 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 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.



Be safe and never give ANY credit card info out over the phone.

~much love~

Be even safer and don't bother using credit cards.

Originally posted by Talltexxxan
I just got an email from my company regarding a new scam...

While worthwhile and valuable knowledge concerning the safe use of credit cards, this is a really old scam that has been going around for many years now.
Variations of that email have been circulating for many years. Since at least 2003. The scam itself apparenbtly since 1997.
But a useful alert to people who havnt seen it, I suppose.

But a useful alert to people who havnt seen it, I suppose.

You suppose correctly

When evil rears its ugly head, its a good thing to be reminded to be on alert and remember some good ole commen sense.

It's not a slick scam at all. When you get that card it specifically states they will never ask you for that number and anyone who does is a fraud.

I guess I shouldn't expect everyone else to actually understand the agreement and terms they are signing.

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
Be even safer and don't bother using credit cards.

I dont have a choice when its for work.
I personally have 0 creditcards

Thank you for this post...very valuable information.

what i have thought about these cards before is.. if you pay a bill or buy something over the phone, you have to give all your numbers on the front.. acc no, start date, expiry date etc.. but they also ask for the 3 digit number on the back..
so whats to stop anyone who works in these call centres, taking your details and using your card?


personally i generally try to use cash only for all purchases, i never use my card... but there are obviously occasions when i do have to.. and have always thought about giving call centre workers all these details..

some of ours here in the uk are in britain but alot are generally outsourced to india or some other obscure country..

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
Be even safer and don't bother using credit cards.

Amen I dont own one and i don't want to. I'm not going to be a slave to Rothschild.
I wouldnt tell anyone those 3 security numbers anyways because if they were really an employee of VISA or Mastercard they would easily be able to pull that up and see without you telling them.

You know what's interesting is I've received TWO phone calls saying my WellsFargo Visa has been closed due to fraudulent activity and to not call the number on my card, but this specific number to verify. I don't even have one of those Visas as I hate Wells Fargo and haven't had anything to do with them for 8 years. Stupid people.

It seriously would not bother me one bit if these scammers were hung by the neck.
Particularly the ones the target older, retired persons.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
It seriously would not bother me one bit if these scammers were hung by the neck.
Particularly the ones the target older, retired persons.

You really have got to be a the lowest scum on the earth to purposfully scam anyone, let alone the elderly. Truly disgracful excuses for human beings.

I hope Karma teaches all that are involved a lesson.

The better solution is never to talk to ANYONE from any company that calls you directly asking for financial information. If you are called from anything from a collection agency to a credit card company you thank them for the call and tell them you will call them back from their publically available phone number. If they claim that you cannot reach them that way, you tell them to contact you by physical mail (snail mail ).

If it weren't effective they wouldn't be doing it ..

phishing scams via e-mail are still effective people people still click the links and fall for it .. the scammers go for volume, if they only fool 10% of the people they try for that's still 10 out of a hundred and a lot of money stolen as a result.

I used to work for an ISP and assisted the feds with investigations all the time ( providing log data and the like ) .. it happens all the time.. and keeps happening.. I work for a marketing firm now and we host websites as well as some email accounts and my filters, even on this much smaller scale server environment, still identifies and blocks tons of this crap.

This scam is active right now, I know because I reported a group who is doing it last week.

I was performing remote Linux admin work for a certain datacenter and the client they had me working on was running 3 servers, 2 VOIP dialers and a central admin server that manages the scripts and recordings their "agents" use on the phone.

The auto dialers are themselves illegal as they will call lists of phone numbers from shady lead lists or even random numbers.

I happened to look at one of the scripts the people use on the calls and it was almost word for word the scam described in this post. The variation on this one is that they claim you will be sent to a computerized system to perform the card security verification. The "computer" is actually just a slick set of wav files and recording routines which makes the callers think they are interacting with a automated system when in fact it is recording the PIN numbers and adding them to a database.

The easiest way for hackers and thieves to get into your private data / bank accounts is to convince you to tell them what they need to know. No one from a real bank, credit card company, etc should ever ask you to verify account numbers, passwords or pin codes.

I've developed a better security system for online transactions, log ins etc which will eliminate passwords as we currently use them in exchange for a system which can tell when anyone except the authorized user is trying to access a secure account. Hopefully things will work out with it and we can eliminate some of the problems with our current security systems.