Identity Theft and the Credit Card Phone Scam
Identity Theft: Don’t Fall Victim to the Credit Card Phone Scam
When it comes to identity theft, the credit card phone scam is one of the oldest in the book. Before the advent of the Internet, there was the telephone and telephone scams ran like wildfire. Now that the focus is on avoiding Internet identity theft, the light shed on phone scams seems to have dimmed, but it’s important that you realize these identity theft phone scams are still out there.
How the Scam Works
You receive a call saying that you’ve been pre-qualified for a credit card. You’ll receive a special bonus for applying over the phone today, they just need some information to confirm your application. This is just where the scam begins.
The Information They Need
First of all, this isn’t a legitimate credit card company asking for your credit card application. A legitimate credit card company would never call you out of the blue asking for personal information like your social security number and birth date, which is just what these identity theft scammers will be asking you for.
Avoid Falling Victim
If anyone calls you asking for this personal information, tell them you’re not interested. There’s never a good reason to give your social security number out over the phone unless you have initiated the call. This will help you reduce your risk of identity theft.
Comments
Regarding Phone Scams;
Ask them for their phone number and tell them that you will call them back. If they give you their phone number, report it to the Police and FBI.
Posted by: Ed | February 22, 2006 10:02 PM
I got an e-mail from pay pal or so it said. It said that I had an unarthurized person trying to use my account and ask for credit card info.I called paypal & they daid they never send out any info. with out using the customers name.I did answer the 1st e-mail but did not put a PIN number in hopefully I didn't do any harm to my credit card.
Posted by: Linda Massey | February 22, 2006 11:06 PM
Another credit card scam is when someone calls telling you that you have been selected for a reduced rate on your credit card. Then they proceed to ask for the CC#, your SS# and they even want the 3 digit code on the back of the credit card. Their reasoning is that they have to verify that they are talking to the right person. I have had 5 of these calls in the past month.
Posted by: Sandy Hollingsworth | February 23, 2006 3:17 PM