Fraud

I received, and shared, an email today about a credit card fraud scheme in which people get your credit card number and your contact information - evidently that is easy to steal - and then call you, claiming to be from the credit card company fraud department and asking to verify some information. They do most of the talking, give you most of the information rather than ask you for it so that they look legitimate, provide you with fake authorization numbers and telephone verification thingies and then ask you for the code on the back of your card. And if you give it - they can use the card.

(This is the security code which companies now use to ensure that the card you are using is valid and yours. Supposedly the code is in place to prevent people from stealing your number and using your card for online purchases when they aren't you and don't actually have your card.)

Oh well. There's always a way to steal what you want - and getting people to just give it to you must surely be the best way.

Another scenario: A friend of mine was telling me recently about someone who fell for one of the email 'phishing' schemes, had all her banking and credit information stolen and now has to go through all kinds of hassles - expense and time - to repair the damage of the identity theft. It honestly looked like it was an email from her bank - their logo and address and everything.

Crooks are getting clever and learning from past mistakes and failures. And even the most savvy of us can fall victim to their schemes because they look and sound SO legitimate. Logos can be copied, webpages highjacked, sincerity faked.

You can do a few things though. And you probably already know them - and certainly my blog isn't a source for authoritative information about anything, but this is an exception...

Make it a practice to NEVER respond to a call or question from a company. Don't get taken by surprise on this. Don't call back the phone number they give you, don't respond to an email even if it looks perfectly legitimate... Just contact the company through their public means - Google them and their website rather than following a link to them; use the phone number they provide on their bill or the back of the credit card rather than return a call.

And consider putting a freeze on your credit at all three credit bureaus so no one can access your information without your permission. Contact 1-888-5OPTOUT or visit their website, http://optoutprescreen.com, to stop getting credit offers in the mail. MSNBC has a very informative blog about dealing scams and solutions called Red Tape Chronicles that you could check out regularly also. (They recently gave the details on the credit freeze process.)

Our only real weapon in this is sharing information. So I'm sharing.