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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Scam alert - mobile credit card reader

Below is a scam alert I received from an email forward:


Hi everyone,

I want to let you all know that (name deleted for privacy) and I have been the victims of credit card fraud this week and felt I should warn you all about the clever scam. It works like this:

Last Wednesday I had a phone call late morning from Express Couriers to ask if I was going to be home as he had a delivery for me. He said he would there in roughly an hour. He turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and wine. I expressed my surprise as I wasn't expecting anything like this and said I was intrigued to know who was sending me such a lovely gift. He said he was only delivering the gift and the card was being sent separately (the card has never arrived). There was a consignment note with the gift.

He went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol he has to charge the recipient $3.50 as proof that he has actually delivered to an adult, and not left it on a door step if the recipient is out, to be stolen or taken by children. This seemed logical and I offered to get the cash. He then said that the company required the payment to be by Eftpos so he's not handling cash and everything is properly accounted for. Frank was there and got his credit card and "John" swiped the
card on this small mobile machine that also had a small screen upon which Frank entered in his pin number. A receipt was printed out and given to us.

Between last Thursday and Monday $4,000 was withdrawn from our credit account at ATM machines in the north shore area. It appears a dummy credit card was made using the details in the machine and of course, they had Frank's pin number.

The Bank has stopped our cards and I've been to the Police this morning, where they confirmed that it is a definite scam and many households were hit during the first 3 days of October.

So PLEASE be wary of accepting a gift you're not expecting especially if the card is not with it. We've all received gifts like this and would never dream that it could be such a despicable act. Please also let other female friends and relatives know. Hopefully, these fraudsters have ceased this activity by now but you never know. I wanted to warn all my friends.

(Name deleted for privacy)

P.S. I don't think I'll ever drink the wine - I'd probably choke
on it!

4 comments:

Nessa said...

OMG! What a despicable act! Thanks for the heads up :)

credit card said...

We as a cardholder must be alert at all times. Cause today's society is very intelligent. Fraudster will do everything just to take out money from your account.

St. George credit card said...

I'm sorry to hear that but this serve as a lesson for all of us that we must be alert on all times and also if ever that our credit card has been stolen the first thing that you need to do is call the customer service hotline and call the bank to freeze the card. And don't ever give any information about your credit card.

boracay island philippines said...

I was almost a victim of a scam involving credit cards but I was lucky to notice it earlier that is why I made measures to prevent it.