New (to me) Credit Card Scam

[DirectDrive]

So I get a call from an 800 number and answer it.
It's a woman with a foreign accent and hard to understand English.
She said she is with Citi.com and wants to verify my name and she had it and I said yes, that's my name.
(this is the screener)
Then she hands off to a guy with slightly better English.
(this is the closer)
He asks if I made an $800 purchase on Amazon.
I said no, but I didn't get my usual text alert.
He said I am with Citi Fraud Early Warning.
He said I can search the number you see on your phone.
The he asked for my card number starting with xxxx-x (the first 4-5 digits are not unique)
I said, why don't you already know my card number ?
Before he could answer, I said how do I know you are legit ?
Then I said maybe I should call back through normal channels.
When I said that, he abruptly hung up.

The clues :
I have text alert and it was odd to get a cold call like that and no text alert.
The alleged $800 charge on Amazon....that figure is not realistic.
Then to ask for my complete card number. Card companies just need your last 4 digits.

The alarming part :
I searched the number that showed on my caller ID and it was a legit Citi Fraud Early Warning phone number.
Very clever of them to be able to paint a legit phone number for my caller ID.

Read More

 

[Alexx1401]

The "tech" for scams keeps getting better. I get text alerts for my cards when they are not sure about something. Even those if something looked wrong I would call them direct and never trust even texting back to them. I am sure a lot of people fall for this.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Inside my mom's recent Amazon delivery there was an officialish Amazon looking business card / "coupon" thingy which was a scam. It had a 503 telephone number on it which is odd for the largest company on earth to not use a toll free number and then some weird .com address.

 

[Nosferatu]

They hang up when I tell them they'll need to get the money from the Nigerian Price I sent it all to last week.

 

[Ruger Rich]

I drag the call out as long as possible without giving up any info.
I feel that perhaps I'm wasting their time that might be used to scam
another person. And it's kinda fun.

 

[YippeeKiYoRed]

IMO The ability to spoof an area code or number should be illegal. And the "free reverse lookup" services are becoming more on the crooks side. They deliberately drag out the search and the free level of information is almost useless. To get something useful you have to pay. Back when they gave more info I once tracked down a caller to an out of state hotel room.

 

[Nosferatu]

IMO The ability to spoof an area code or number should be illegal

If the intent is to defraud or cause harm, then it is illegal - in the US. This is one of the reasons these scammers operate from overseas, primarily in India, where they have the local authorities on the payroll.

 

[parallax]

...

 

[TTSX]

I've gotten these calls before. I always check my card balances then call the number on the back of the physical card. I never, ever give personal details to a cold caller

 

[Alexx1401]

I drag the call out as long as possible without giving up any info.
I feel that perhaps I'm wasting their time that might be used to scam
another person. And it's kinda fun.

Have not heard one in a while but there have been some GREAT comedy skits of people doing this. Getting a call from some scammer and playing with them to see how long they could keep the scammer trying before they would give up. Some of them were funny as hell to listen to.

 

[CountryGent]

I drag the call out as long as possible without giving up any info.
I feel that perhaps I'm wasting their time that might be used to scam
another person. And it's kinda fun.

And how! I have to confess that, on and off, over the years I've delighted in royally screwing with some of those scammers.

 

[Bacchus]

Fifteen years ago I read where someone was contacted by what appeared to be Nigerian scammers. So he kind of strung them along, letting them know he was very interested, then told them he would agree to send them money if they would send him naked pictures of their sisters. The scammers sent pictures of their sisters in their underwear, so naturally the deal was off. A deal's a deal !

 

[parallax]

I remember getting an email that's said " your uncle who passed away in South Africa,had a sizable fortune that needs to be claimed" once they told me where they were and the amount,,I asked them to donate it to the local orphanage in the city the email originated from, I never heard back hope that orphanage appreciated the donation

 

[The Heretic]

Scammers can fake the calling number easily - making it look like they are calling from any number they want.

I almost never answer my phone if the number isn't in my contact list. If it is important they leave a message - scammers almost never do. If they don't leave a message I mark it as spam - most of the time T-Mobile or Google already has marked it as spam/scam.

I have my CC text alerts set to notify me of all charges and Amazon also notifies me of purchases by email. My debit card alerts me of charges over certain amounts.

I check both accounts weekly. I keep a close eye on the CC, debit and my IRAs to make sure my $ stay put.

Over the years I have had 2-3 fraud charges on my credit card (one double charge on my debit) and I called the CC company immediately - usually within a few minutes. The CC co cancel the charge and send me a new credit card with a different number and I have to change all of the auto payments then.

 

[Alexx1401]

Scammers can fake the calling number easily - making it look like they are calling from any number they want.

I almost never answer my phone if the number isn't in my contact list. If it is important they leave a message - scammers almost never do. If they don't leave a message I mark it as spam - most of the time T-Mobile or Google already has marked it as spam/scam.

I have my CC text alerts set to notify me of all charges and Amazon also notifies me of purchases by email. My debit card alerts me of charges over certain amounts.

I check both accounts weekly. I keep a close eye on the CC, debit and my IRAs to make sure my $ stay put.

Over the years I have had 2-3 fraud charges on my credit card (one double charge on my debit) and I called the CC company immediately - usually within a few minutes. The CC co cancel the charge and send me a new credit card with a different number and I have to change all of the auto payments then.

YEP! All 3 cards text and e-mail me when the card is used for anything over $50 and Amazon e-mails about every transaction which is nice. Just had one this morning from one card. Text and e-mail about a charge I did not make. Was on the phone with them while I was playing here and they took the charge off and are sending a new one. Only thing that is a PITA about this is when this happens have to switch the auto billing for several things over. Have a handful of things that the card pays auto pay. So if that card has to be replaced have to remember to go to each damn account and change payment card. I forgot my cell phone one time when this happened and all of a sudden it quit working.

 

[The Heretic]

I forgot my cell phone one time when this happened and all of a sudden it quit working.

I use my CC for prepaid T-mobile phone - $11.25 ($10+fees) because T-Mobile has a bad habit of having data breaches, and I don't want my debit card in a data breach. However, I just got TM's Home Internet and that is $5 cheaper if I give them my debit card # or checking account # - so I went with debit card. We'll see how that works out.

I was in Costco Wed and a customer rep for cell phones tried to sell me a "deal" on cell service. I told her I didn't think she could beat $10/mo. on my cell - she asked who sold service so cheap? I told her and walked away. I know some people need the better plans, but most people don't need to spend anywhere near what they need to for cell service.

 

[Alexx1401]

I use my CC for prepaid T-mobile phone - $11.25 ($10+fees) because T-Mobile has a bad habit of having data breaches, and I don't want my debit card in a data breach. However, I just got TM's Home Internet and that is $5 cheaper if I give them my debit card # or checking account # - so I went with debit card. We'll see how that works out.

I was in Costco Wed and a customer rep for cell phones tried to sell me a "deal" on cell service. I told her I didn't think she could beat $10/mo. on my cell - she asked who sold service so cheap? I told her and walked away. I know some people need the better plans, but most people don't need to spend anywhere near what they need to for cell service.

Damn that is cheap cell service. One Wife uses is $20 + tax while mine is $25 + tax. I thought those were good. I only quit the one Wife still uses as a couple years ago they really started to fall apart service wise. I am reading that many places are now offering deep discounts to have auto pay come from a bank account. Not surprising as the cost to use a CC is a lot higher. If one of my places offers me a deal worth it? I will do what I did when I was selling some stuff on E-bay and they needed an account. I started another free checking account and only put money it in just for that. Now days they have some free checking accounts on line. I have one I opened just to try a couple years ago that so far seems great. I never set foot in a bank anyway. I can transfer money in and out of it and pay bills with it. So if the stuff starts offering a deep enough discount will set up one more just for this and only keep enough money in it for this. My pay from one job goes direct deposit, have no choice. No way am I going to use that account for anyone having direct access. The way these places seem to get hacked so often would scare me.

 

[The Heretic]

Damn that is cheap cell service. One Wife uses is $20 + tax while mine is $25 + tax.

It is their cheapest prepaid plan - 1 GB of data, unlimited text/calls. I use maybe 30-40 minutes of call time max per month, maybe 100 texts sent per month. Maybe 500 MB (mostly when I am sitting in a Dr. office waiting to be seen) per month when not on WiFi. I spend 95-99% of my time at home and phone is connected to the WiFi, so just don't need much in the way of cell service - except now I spend $50 for internet via TM Home Internet - separate line.

 

[Bacchus]

I spend $50 for internet via TM Home Internet

Did you have to have TM phones/cell service to get TM Internet that cheap? How is the Internet service? I have had a recent flurry of providers (well, two; Verizon and Ziply) knocking on doors in my block trying to get me to switch, but the service I have now I consider stellar (not necessarily the fastest, but fast enough and reliable), but it is quite a bit more expensive.

 

[The Heretic]

Did you have to have TM phones/cell service to get TM Internet that cheap?

No.

How is the Internet service?

For me, so far (only had it less than a month?) it is better and less expensive than Starlink.