Another scam emerges

[David Morton]

This arrived today:

The Programmer Charity Foundation,
Schalktorrenstraat 673b,
8921CH,Nijmegen.
Royal Dutch Federation.

Ticket No;627462128TW,

This is to inform you that, base on our end of year promotion of The Programmer Charity Foundation carried out on the 9th ,December,'05,the above ticket No. fixed to your email ID surfaced in the third ballot stake.

You have therefore emerged as a recipient of the third award of two hundred and fifty thousand american dollars in this annual end of year promotion

The source of fund is majorly from well meaning companies and humanitarian spirited industries selected from european community.

Be informed that in line with the sponsors' regulation,you are to contribute a percentage amount( ten percent minimum) to a recognized non-governmental charity project in your environ,after collection of your prize

Application and inquiries should be forwarded to Mrs Stellamaris Konnindam via ; [email protected].

Accept my heart felt congratulations.

Ms Sandra Davids
PS:Kindly state your Ticket No in your expected application.

What next ? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nono.gif

 

[ChrisL]

I received this one in my email a few days ago.

If someone arrives at you front door claiming to be doing a survey and asks you to show them your ass, don’t do it. They just want to see your ass.

I wish I’d received this email a week ago. I feel so stupid and cheap. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Simon]

Email and tell them it can't be you, as your ticket number is one number out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/1poke.gif

 

[David Morton]

CREDIT CARD FRAUD: IMPORTANT - PLEASE
READ

The following was given to me by a
colleague at work whose
husband works for Barclays and has
dealings with Barclaycard.

Quote: 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". Note, the callers do
not ask for your card number; 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
that was issued by (name of bank). Did
you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing
Device for ?249.99 from a Marketing
company based in (name of any
town or city)?"

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
?150 to ?249, just under the ?250
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 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 next 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 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 glad we did! The REAL
VISA Security Department told us it
was a scam and in the last 15 minutes
a new purchase of ?249.99 was charged
to our card.

Long story made short - 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 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 to 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. Please pass this on to all
your family and
friends. By informing each other, we
protect each other.

 

[David Morton]

sorry I didn't have time to edit it,
Dave

 

[Keith]

Thanks for the info. These scammers are getting more cute by the day...

If they catch you unawares who knows what you can inadvertantly tell them. Interestingly, as a result of all these scams I have become increasingly paranoid and tend to treat all such phone calls as potential scams with a "**!!?** off and die" philosophy. Imagine my embarrassment when I received a letter from a local bank mildly rebuking me for being extremely rude to the assistant manager phoning to ask me to verify a written request I'd made. Oooops...

 

[Mitch D]

Re: Another scam emerges - HOAX

David - sorry to tell you, but that latest 'credit card scam' you posted is an old hoax that is basically the equivalent of an electronic chain mail (or junk mail). Do a search on Yahoo for "One of our employees was called on Wednesday from "VISA"" and you will get countless hits. It's a hoax, however, the moral of the story is valid - don't give any cc info out over the phone.

Why is it that such emails always start with "this was given me by (insert friend, wife, cousin, etc.) who works at (insert any financial firm real or fake)?



Mitch D

 

[Charlie Farley]

Re: Another scam emerges - HOAX

How would they know your credit card number?

 

[David Morton]

Hi Andy,
I read that as well this afternoon.
Mitch - Thank you - even if it is a hoax, and it probably is, it's a good reminder that C/card fraud is reaching gargantuan proportions with all these former Eastern Bloc migrants flooding in. Our local plod CPO says that having credit card numbers is the easy part. Yours and my credit card numbers are probably freely available to these arseholes - apparently there are databases that these dreadful people get. Maybe that's why chip and pin is being rigorously enforced from 14th, which is a good start.
Ever lost sight of your card while a waiter goes to swipe it? Some less reputable waiters apparently have card readers on their person and they apparently get £5 for every card they add to these lists. £5 in romania goes a long way
I think I might just go back to cash under the bed.
I've had numerous "fisching" emails as well going down similar avenues - especially pretending to be Paypal.