To Scam or Not to Scam

[Rgarner]

I think my friend may be an intended victim. There was a call about somebody trying to make a fraudulent purchase for hundreds of dollars. The caller asked about her first name and then "automatically" knew her last name. I think this was somebody from India. I was there and advised hanging up because it seemed suspicious to me. What do you think?

 

[Fox Mulder]

Not much to go on, but sometimes a credit card company will call you to verify unusual activity on the card. So it could be legit, did they ask for any personal info? It's ok if they hung up, if it does turn out to be legit they may get another call or a notice by email.
Scammers usually make random calls and don't know your name although there certainly can be instances where individuals are targeted.

 

[olbriar]

To receive a call asking your name is more than suspicious. Personally, I never answer a call from someone not on my contact list. The caller will leave a voicemail if it's a legitimate call and I will return the call if I think it warrants such.

 

[svim]

Could be a malicious phone call, or it could be a valid bank or credit card company trying to verify suspicious activity. But whether it was one or the other should be looked into. I would have told your friend to politely hang up too, but you should tell your friend to call their bank or credit card directly to find out if there is a problem.
It's one thing to answer phone calls from sources you might not know are valid, but another thing when you make phone calls to legitimate, known phone numbers yourself.

 

[puppykickr]

I am unaware of any time that a crediit card company will ever call a customer.
Everything they do is through the mail.
Just like with the IRS.
If you get a call from someone claiming to be from your credit card company or the IRS, it is a scam.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I think the payoff is not worth the risk. Jail/Prison? Way to harsh your high.

 

[Hadron]

I've occasionally had unsolicited calls from a bank or credit card company, though not for a few years, and they never had an answer to this question: I understand why you need to confirm that you are speaking to the right person, but as you called me surely you need to verify your identity to me first? Without that it would be irresponsible for me to give you this information.

The last call from my current bank ended with us agreeing that they'd have to end the call because they had no way of proving their identity to me. To be honest I'm pretty certain it was genuine, as I'd only opened the account that morning, but I thought it was worth making the point.

 

[Davdi]

I have, a few years ago, had genuine automated calls from my bank detailing the last 5 or 6 card transactions and asking if the were made by me. One such call did identify several fraudulent transactions. I phoned the bank later and confirmed that the call was genuine, and that the transactions were fraudulent, and they issued me with a new card. I still have no idea how or where the card could have been cloned.

 

[Hadron]

The only time I've actually suffered a fraudulent transaction was when someone topped-up their PAYG phone using one of our cards. I suspect it was someone at a fuel station noted the number and then used it to top up over the phone. It was easy to spot on the bill as nobody in my family had a phone with that service provider (who no longer exist as a brand in the UK).

I did phone the service provider in question about the transaction (after getting my card provider to refund the money and replace the card). I was amazed that their answer was that their processes were fine because they only allowed one top-up per month from an unregistered card for a maximum of £30. When I asked them why, as the victim, they considered it OK for their customers to commit fraud as long as it didn't exceed £360/year, they stopped talking to me.

 

[puppykickr]

To be clear, in the USA, a credit card company will never call out of the blue.
They only use mail for official business.

Automated calls are considered different- especially when it is a company that you do or do not do business with.

All you need to do is to have them verify the last four digits of your social security number, or the last four digits of the credit card number.

If the caller refuses or does not have any of this information, it is a scam call- just that simple.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I am unaware of any time that a crediit card company will ever call a customer.
Everything they do is through the mail.
Just like with the IRS.
If you get a call from someone claiming to be from your credit card company or the IRS, it is a scam.

No, not in my experience! Both American Express and Bank of America have called me before, regarding suspicious activity on my cards. (Which turned out to be fraud.) I'm glad they did! That immediate attention sure beats waiting for sending mail, me receiving it, then acting on it. By calling me as soon as their system flagged suspicious activity, and I confirmed it was not me, they canceled the cards and stopped the fraud in its tracks!

Of course, I was absolutely sure who I was talking to. I mean I knew they weren't spoofers/scammers/spammers/other lowlifes like that. Just because caller ID says "American Express" and has a number I know belongs to AmEx, doesn't mean it *is* AmEx, you know? Any spoofer can do that. So it's important to be sure who you're talking to and, if in doubt, hang up and call them back at the number on your card.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Way to harsh your high.

WHAT?!

Are you possibly trying to say, "way too harsh, you're high"?

 

[puppykickr]

No, not in my experience! Both American Express and Bank of America have called me before, regarding suspicious activity on my cards. (Which turned out to be fraud.) I'm glad they did! That immediate attention sure beats waiting for sending mail, me receiving it, then acting on it. By calling me as soon as their system flagged suspicious activity, and I confirmed it was not me, they canceled the cards and stopped the fraud in its tracks!

Of course, I was absolutely sure who I was talking to. I mean I knew they weren't spoofers/scammers/spammers/other lowlifes like that. Just because caller ID says "American Express" and has a number I know belongs to AmEx, doesn't mean it *is* AmEx, you know? Any spoofer can do that. So it's important to be sure who you're talking to and, if in doubt, hang up and call them back at the number on your card.

So what info was exchanged that assured you as to whom you were speaking?

 

[puppykickr]

No, not in my experience! Both American Express and Bank of America have called me before, regarding suspicious activity on my cards. (Which turned out to be fraud.) I'm glad they did! That immediate attention sure beats waiting for sending mail, me receiving it, then acting on it. By calling me as soon as their system flagged suspicious activity, and I confirmed it was not me, they canceled the cards and stopped the fraud in its tracks!

Of course, I was absolutely sure who I was talking to. I mean I knew they weren't spoofers/scammers/spammers/other lowlifes like that. Just because caller ID says "American Express" and has a number I know belongs to AmEx, doesn't mean it *is* AmEx, you know? Any spoofer can do that. So it's important to be sure who you're talking to and, if in doubt, hang up and call them back at the number on your card.

So what info was exchanged that assured you as to whom you were speaking?

 

[MoodyBlues]

So what info was exchanged that assured you as to whom you were speaking?

Easy. I logged in as we spoke, and they told me the exact amounts, dates, locations of the charges in question, which I compared to what I saw in my account. They also told me previous legitimate charges, dates, etc., which also matched my actual activity. Some random scam artist wouldn't have known any of that.

 

[purplekoala955]

To receive a call asking your name is more than suspicious. Personally, I never answer a call from someone not on my contact list. The caller will leave a voicemail if it's a legitimate call and I will return the call if I think it warrants such.

I also do the same when I get calls from unfamiliar numbers. It's better to just ignore them or wait for them to leave some VMs. I sometimes also look up the numbers on Google or some websites like http://phonebook.ai to see if others have reported those numbers, and then I can just block them.