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I am almost embarrased to admit that one of my family members got burned on this, but he was an in-law, so we do not share a common gene-pool, lol. This is the personal E-mail I got from my niece this morning. "This one is pretty slick since the scammers do not ever ask for your credit card number. Somehow, they already have it. 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 your bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for £497.99 from a Marketing company based in London?" 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 0800 number listed on the back of your card 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 scam. The caller then says, "I need to verify you are in possession of your card." The caller will ask you to read the 3 digit security number 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. The caller was very slick and professional. After hanging up, we felt uneasy and called the real Visa security number back. There was already a new charge for £497.99 (US $1009.92) was charged to our card. We filed a real security fraud violation and got issued a new credit card number. What makes this more remarkable is that the very next day, I got a call from a "Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA scam!
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