In
many cases, when you receive an email with some dire warning about a scam or a
virus (that even Microsoft can’t fix), it pays to be sceptical. Especially if
it also tells to forward it to everyone in your address book straight away to
warn them. At best they are fake – a bit of mischief-making. At worst, they can
have viruses embedded in them that will spread to everyone you send it to, or
forward all your friends email addresses somewhere.
Occasionally,
these emails can have a basis of truth to them.
An
example was received by one of our local residents last week. The wording of
the email in full was as follows:
Very
Clever Credit Card Scam!
Give this
wide distribution.
This scam
is actually very clever.
Just when
you thought you'd heard it all.
Be very
careful out there!
Beware of
people bearing gifts.
The
following is a recounting of the incident from the victim:
Wednesday
a week ago, I had a phone call from someone saying that he was
from some
outfit called: "Express Couriers,"(The name could be any courier
company)
He asked if I was going to be home because there was a package for
me that
required a signature .
The caller
said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an
hour. Sure
enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up
with a
beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of wine. I was very
surprised
since there was no special occasion or holiday, and I certainly
didn't
expect anything like it. Intrigued, I inquired as to who the sender
was.
The
courier replied, "I don't know, I'm only delivering the package."
Apparently,
a card was being sent separately... (the card has never
arrived!)
There was also a consignment note with the gift.
He then
went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there
was a
$3.50 "delivery/ verification charge," providing proof that he had
actually
delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking age), and not
just left
it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone,
especially
a minor.
This
sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the
delivery
company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so
that
everything is properly accounted for, and this would help in keeping a
legal
record of the transaction.
He added
couriers don't carry cash to avoid loss or likely targets for
robbery.
My
husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled out his credit
card, and
'John,' the "delivery man," asked him to swipe the card on a small
mobile
card machine with a small screen and keypad. Frank, my husband, was
asked to
enter his PIN number and a receipt was printed out. He was given a
copy of
the transaction. He guy said everything was in order, and wished us
good day.
To our
horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $4,000
had been
charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM
machines.
Apparently
the "mobile credit card machine," which the deliveryman carried
now had
all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card
details
including the PIN number.
Upon
finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately
notified
the bank which issued us a new card, and our credit/debit account
was
closed.
We also
personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is
definitely
a scam because several households had been similarly hit.
WARNING:
Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package," which you
neither
expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind
of payment
as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never
accept
anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper
identification
of who the sender is.
Above all,
the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card
information
is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!
PLEASE Pass this on, it may just prevent someone
else from being swindled.
A
quick check of the Snopes and Hoax-slayer websites shows that while this
incident probably didn’t happen “Wednesday a week ago” as the email states, it
is based on real events that took place in Sydney back in 2008. A scam pretty
much along these lines occurred over a couple of weeks in October/November
2008.
While
the culprit was arrested and there don’t seem to be any records of something
similar occurring again, the Sydney victims lost a total of over $30,000 in
this scam.
So
although there is no evidence that this particular scam happening recently, it
is a reminder to ALWAYS be careful with your credit card details, especially
when it involves something you didn’t order and was not expecting.
And,
just sometimes, there is some truth on the internet. So be careful with your
credit card details over this holiday period.
