Scammers may only need one, seemingly harmless piece of information
[view:node_ad=5]A new email has been forwarded throughout Santa Clarita. In it, a man claims to have been the victim of a credit card scam where the victim receives a telephone call from someone claiming to be from Visa or MasterCard. The caller then provides the victim’s address, or possibly the card number, and then asks the victim to confirm they are still in possession of the card by providing the three digit security code. Not surprisingly, that missing piece of information leads to the victim being scammed for $497.00.
Upon looking for scam information on the internet, it was easy to find this particular email message, word for word on many websites.
Often times, anonymous forwarded emails do more to strike fear into people than they do to actually educate them. There is no question that this particular scenario is indeed possible. However, there are multiple other scenarios that don’t follow this exact plan, so how can you be aware of all of the scams?
You can’t. But the good news is, they’ve all got one thing in common; they all ask you for some piece of your personal information. The con-artists may have your whole credit card number; they may only have the last four digits. Whatever they do have, it is important to note that they are calling because they still need more.
The best defense against any phone scams is to simply refuse to give any personal information to someone who has called you. If you think it may not be a scam, simply hang up and call the number printed on your card. That way you know for sure who you are speaking with.
If by some chance you do end up the victim of a scam, call your card company immediately and report the incident to them. A police report may also be recommended.