Scam artists are certainly getting creative with their methods of taking advantage of credit card holders. Here is another one that you should watch out for. You may have noticed that you have been getting asked more and more often to provide businesses with the three digits on the back of your card. These digits are meant to help ensure that you actually have the card in your possession. Similarly, these numbers cannot be “lifted” with skimming or other electronic scamming devices. Therefore, these numbers are a bit more difficult for scammers to get a hold of
Since these three precious little numbers are getting so much more attention, however, scam artists know they need to get them if they hope to make any purchases with your card. This is particularly true when it come to making purchases online, which require entering the security code in order to complete the purchase.
With this new scam, the con artist calls the credit card holder and states that there has been some suspicious activity on the card. When the scammer tells the card holder of the activity, the card holder – of course – says he or she did not make those purchases. The scammer than asks to confirm the card holder’s address and promises to begin a fraud investigation.
This is all really just a ruse designed to help win over the card holder’s trust and confidence. From here, the scammer may provide the caller with instructions to call the 800 number on the back of their credit cards and to direct any further questions to the security department. Before finishing the call, however, the scammer will ask the card holder to verify possession of the card by giving him or her the three digit security code on the back of the card.
Once the card holder does this, the scammer finally has the final piece of information he or she needs to start making purchases with the card.
This scam is particularly troublesome because it is not unusual for a credit card company to contact a card holder if suspicious activity takes place on the card. If you are contacted by a credit card company, never provide personal information over the phone. Rather, tell the caller you will be returning their call via the phone number on the back of the card. After you have returned the call in this manner, you can proceed in confidence – knowing you are actually talking to the credit card company and not some scam artist trying to take advantage of you by stealing your hard earned cash.
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