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New financial scam could steal your credit card information
The problem of identity theft is a growing one and criminals are coming up with new schemes every day to rob people of their personal information. Many scams involve the use of the Internet; phishing scams probably pop up in your e-mail inbox every single day. The latest financial scam involves credit card information and an old fashioned telephone.
While identity theft most often makes use of obtaining the Social Security number or driver’s license number of the victim, many scams involve only credit card numbers. The Social Security number permits the crook to do a greater amount of damage, as he or she can pose as you for all manner of transactions, including taking out a home loan. With credit cards, the potential for harm isn’t quite as great, but it’s still there. If you have a large limit on your card, you could easily lose ten to twenty thousand dollars through theft of your credit card number.
In this latest scam, the criminals call you and identify themselves as representatives of the bank that issued your credit card. They say that they are calling to inform you that your credit card has been used to make an unusual purchase. The item and the sales amount are unfamiliar to you, so you tell the caller that you didn’t make the purchase. The caller insists that everything is OK, and that they will credit your card for the purchase amount. For security reasons, they ask you to read the three digit CVC2 code from the back of the card. The caller explains that providing the number will prove that the card is in your possession. If you give them the number, they have all they need to use the card as they wish. What you don’t know is that they probably have your credit card number already, and they only needed that extra information to use it.
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