A
AussieBill
Guest
> BE ON HIGH ALERT APPROACHING THIS
> UP COMING HOLIDAY SEASON AND BE
> SURE TO WARN FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
>
> Just when you think you've heard it all. Here comes
> another scam. This scam is very clever. Be very
> careful out there! One could easily fall for this -
> beware of people bearing gifts!
>
> There is a new and clever credit card scam.
> Please circulate this.
>
> Someone it happened to says it works like this:
>
> Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from
> someone who said that he was from some outfit
> called: "Express Couriers" asking if I was going
> to be home because there was a package for me,
> and the caller said that the delivery would arrive
> at my home in roughly an hour. And sure enough,
> about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man
> turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and
> wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve
> any special occasion or holiday, and I certainly
> didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued about who
> would send me such a gift, I inquired as to who
> the sender is. The delivery man's reply was, he
> was only delivering the gift package, but allegedly
> a card was being sent separately; (the card has
> never arrived!). There was also a consignment
> note with the gift.
>
> He then went on to explain that because the gift
> contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery
> charge" as proof that he had actually delivered
> the package to an adult, and not just left it on the
> doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by
> anyone.
>
> This sounded logical and I offered to pay him
> cash. He then said that the company required
> the payment to be by credit or debit card only
> so that everything is properly accounted for.
>
> My husband, who by this time was standing beside
> me, pulled his wallet out of his pocket with the
> credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man",
> asked my husband to swipe the card on the small
> mobile card machine which had a small screen
> and keypad where Frank was also asked to enter
> the card's PIN and security number. A receipt
> was printed out and given to us.
>
> To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and
> the following Monday, $4,000 had been
> charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account
> at various ATM machines.
>
> It appeared that somehow the "mobile credit
> card machine" which the delivery man carried
> now had all the info necessary to create a
> "dummy" card with all our card details after my
> husband swiped our card and entered the
> requested PIN and security number.
>
> Upon finding out about the illegal transactions
> on our card, we immediately notified the bank
> which issued us the card, and our credit/debit
> account was closed.
>
> We also personally went to the Police, where
> it was confirmed that it is definitely a scam
> because several households had been similarly
> hit.
>
> WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise
> gift or package", which you neither expected nor
> personally ordered, especially if it involves any
> kind of payment as a condition of receiving the
> gift or package. Also, never accept anything if
> you do not personally know or there is no proper
> identification of who the sender is.
>
> Above all, the only time you should give out any
> personal credit/debit card information is when
> you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!
> UP COMING HOLIDAY SEASON AND BE
> SURE TO WARN FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
>
> Just when you think you've heard it all. Here comes
> another scam. This scam is very clever. Be very
> careful out there! One could easily fall for this -
> beware of people bearing gifts!
>
> There is a new and clever credit card scam.
> Please circulate this.
>
> Someone it happened to says it works like this:
>
> Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from
> someone who said that he was from some outfit
> called: "Express Couriers" asking if I was going
> to be home because there was a package for me,
> and the caller said that the delivery would arrive
> at my home in roughly an hour. And sure enough,
> about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man
> turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and
> wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve
> any special occasion or holiday, and I certainly
> didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued about who
> would send me such a gift, I inquired as to who
> the sender is. The delivery man's reply was, he
> was only delivering the gift package, but allegedly
> a card was being sent separately; (the card has
> never arrived!). There was also a consignment
> note with the gift.
>
> He then went on to explain that because the gift
> contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery
> charge" as proof that he had actually delivered
> the package to an adult, and not just left it on the
> doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by
> anyone.
>
> This sounded logical and I offered to pay him
> cash. He then said that the company required
> the payment to be by credit or debit card only
> so that everything is properly accounted for.
>
> My husband, who by this time was standing beside
> me, pulled his wallet out of his pocket with the
> credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man",
> asked my husband to swipe the card on the small
> mobile card machine which had a small screen
> and keypad where Frank was also asked to enter
> the card's PIN and security number. A receipt
> was printed out and given to us.
>
> To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and
> the following Monday, $4,000 had been
> charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account
> at various ATM machines.
>
> It appeared that somehow the "mobile credit
> card machine" which the delivery man carried
> now had all the info necessary to create a
> "dummy" card with all our card details after my
> husband swiped our card and entered the
> requested PIN and security number.
>
> Upon finding out about the illegal transactions
> on our card, we immediately notified the bank
> which issued us the card, and our credit/debit
> account was closed.
>
> We also personally went to the Police, where
> it was confirmed that it is definitely a scam
> because several households had been similarly
> hit.
>
> WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise
> gift or package", which you neither expected nor
> personally ordered, especially if it involves any
> kind of payment as a condition of receiving the
> gift or package. Also, never accept anything if
> you do not personally know or there is no proper
> identification of who the sender is.
>
> Above all, the only time you should give out any
> personal credit/debit card information is when
> you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!
