This happened to me. This isnt something that happened to a friend of a friend, or I saw on Facebook, this happen to ME, Mara Aum! At 12:30 AM last night, as I was dozing off to sleep, I received a call on my cellphone. Now, it was from a number I didnt recognize, but a lot of my friends and family dont appear in my phone and considering the late hour it might have been an emergency. (During the day I would have answered it too, as Im job hunting). Still groggy from sleep, I was surprised when what I got instead was an automated message telling me that my Credit Card was locked. Now, I only have one real credit card and I only just logged on the other day and verified that is had a 0 balance, so this message worried me a lot. It did mention the type of card I own, and then asked me to press a button to speak to one of their fraud specialists. Now, I was still sleepy, and I missed the number to press so I waited for the message to repeat which it didnt. By this point I was awake enough to get suspicious, so I hung up. I first went online through a link I trusted to check my account and there was no mention that my card being locked. But as websites are notoriously known for being late to show transactions, I looked up the customer service phone number and called my provider of the card (luckily that have 24hr service). When I got to the fraud department, they said that there was nothing wrong with my card and that I indeed had a 0 balance still. What he deduced from my encounter that I was targeted as a potential victim of a new scam that consist of exactly that happened to me. An automated message warning that my card was lock and given a number to press to speak to their fraud department. The Fraud Department would have then gotten all my pertinent info about my card to pass it on to whatever criminal organization is gathering that information. Luckily, I didnt do that. What he said to look out for that will separate a real call from a false one is that firstly, the real deal would mention the company that issues the card AND they would give the last four digits of the card (as people might have more than one). Regardless, he says that even in that case, he would recommend hanging up and calling the company directly for any automated call. I wanted to share this because when you hear something like Your credit card is lock your knee jerk reaction is to press that button and get some answers. I know I nearly did. I know a lot of you just dont answer numbers you dont recognize, but some of us (like myself) dont have the luxury. So, please, watch yourself out there!
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 17:07:16 +0000
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