New York State Banking Department issues a warning regarding the most recent credit card scam.
These scammers keep on getting trickier and trickier. Read on for the most recent concept. It’s pretty ingenious.
Banks have begun putting a three-digit security number on the back of each credit card as an extra line of defense in an effort to foil thieves who steal credit card numbers. The tactic has proven to be effective. So thieves have been working to formulate new scams to trick consumers into voluntarily revealing that code, according to the New York State Banking Department.
The Department issued a warning to consumers, outlining details of the scam. It reports that the scam is effective because the scammers don’t need to elicit the consumer’s credit card number. Having your credit card number also gives them more credibility.
How can it be that they have your number? Because, prior to making the call, the scammer has already illegally obtained the credit card number. By asking only for the three-digit security number during the phone conversation and providing phony badge and control numbers, the scammer sounds legitimate to the unsuspecting consumer.
Here is how it begins, the consumer receives a call from someone claiming to represent the security and fraud department of a major credit card company. To maintain an official persona, the call is conducted in a very professional manner by the scammer.
The caller claims the consumer’s card was flagged by the security and fraud department for showing an “unusual purchase pattern” for a recent purchase of an amount under $500.
When the consumer states that the purchase was not theirs, the scammer reassures him that a credit will appear on the consumer’s next credit card statement as well as the charge. After providing the consumer with a phony control number to “document” the fraud claim, the scammer asks the consumer to provide the three-digit security number from the back of the credit card in order to prove that the consumer is currently in possession of the card.
Once the consumer divulges this number, the scammer has everything needed to make a fraudulent purchase using the credit card number.
Per department officials this is done usually within fifteen minutes of the call. The scammer uses the information to make a purchase for the amount the scammer told the consumer had been ‘flagged’ as suspicious. The consumer therefore does not find this charge unusual, as the scammer had warned that this charge had been made and a credit is in the works.
Officials advise consumers receiving any call purporting to be from a bank or credit card company’s security or fraud department to hang up and call the credit card’s toll-free number in order to determine the validity of the call. You can find the toll free number on the back of the credit card.
