Consider yourself warned!
The sound of the telephone ringing startled me awake. It was still kind of dark so I peeked across the room to see the time. 6:30 a.m. The caller ID assured me that it wasn’t family, but I answered it anyway. Not cheerfully.
A recorded female voice said, approximately,
There was something wrong with this picture -- not least that I never heard of a “Citi Credit Union”— but I was still a little concerned because I’d had someone hitchhike on my Citi credit card account a few months back. So I pressed 1, and then received instruction to begin reinstatement by entering my credit card number.
For an instant I imagined I was reading an email.
On the Internet it’s called “phishing,” and everyone who has an email address probably knows by now not to reply to an email from anywhere that asks you for account information. That’s why my red flags went up, and I hung up.
Boy, you have to admit the bad guys are ever more creative.
After I was wider awake I recalled what happened when someone actually did access my account: The bank had called me with a recorded message, to be sure, but when I pushed 1 it took me to a real, live person who did NOT ask for my account number, rather for confirmation of specific charges.
Even so, I had hung up that time, too, and called my customer service number directly to see what was going on.
This latest was the first time I’d received such a call, so I called good ol’ customer service and reported it. I learned that they have recently gotten a flurry of reports describing such calls and that there were definitely thieves at work.
Interestingly, they said the calls reported were almost all in the wee hours of the morning – when sleepy folks might be off guard, it seems. And that’s true: I was briefly inclined to fall for it at 6:30 in the morning, after all. But happily, when it was over, all I’d lost was a bit of sleep.
So here’s the warning: If you get one of these calls, or any call for that matter that asks you for your credit card number, no matter how convincing they are, do not give it, but immediately report it to your card company.
And if by chance when you read this you suspect you’ve been a victim or think you might have been, report the call to your credit card company as soon as possible because they can still protect your account.
I probably get all those “phishing” emails because my email address is out there in connection with my real estate business, and that certainly helped me spot the fraud in this case.
But folks who don’t use email, or use it only casually, may never have been the target of phishing expeditions and may not recognize the scam when it comes over the phone. That’s why I want to warn you.
Skepticism is a healthy thing, and we should never hesitate to question anything that seems just a little off.
Meanwhile, on the chance that even one of the people reading this is now forewarned against this latest round of thievery, it will have been worth the ink.
A recorded female voice said, approximately,
Hello. This call is about your Citi Credit Union account. Because we believe it was accessed by an unauthorized third party, we have suspended your account. If you wish to reinstate your account, please press 1.
There was something wrong with this picture -- not least that I never heard of a “Citi Credit Union”— but I was still a little concerned because I’d had someone hitchhike on my Citi credit card account a few months back. So I pressed 1, and then received instruction to begin reinstatement by entering my credit card number.
For an instant I imagined I was reading an email.
On the Internet it’s called “phishing,” and everyone who has an email address probably knows by now not to reply to an email from anywhere that asks you for account information. That’s why my red flags went up, and I hung up.
Boy, you have to admit the bad guys are ever more creative.
After I was wider awake I recalled what happened when someone actually did access my account: The bank had called me with a recorded message, to be sure, but when I pushed 1 it took me to a real, live person who did NOT ask for my account number, rather for confirmation of specific charges.
Even so, I had hung up that time, too, and called my customer service number directly to see what was going on.
This latest was the first time I’d received such a call, so I called good ol’ customer service and reported it. I learned that they have recently gotten a flurry of reports describing such calls and that there were definitely thieves at work.
Interestingly, they said the calls reported were almost all in the wee hours of the morning – when sleepy folks might be off guard, it seems. And that’s true: I was briefly inclined to fall for it at 6:30 in the morning, after all. But happily, when it was over, all I’d lost was a bit of sleep.
So here’s the warning: If you get one of these calls, or any call for that matter that asks you for your credit card number, no matter how convincing they are, do not give it, but immediately report it to your card company.
And if by chance when you read this you suspect you’ve been a victim or think you might have been, report the call to your credit card company as soon as possible because they can still protect your account.
I probably get all those “phishing” emails because my email address is out there in connection with my real estate business, and that certainly helped me spot the fraud in this case.
But folks who don’t use email, or use it only casually, may never have been the target of phishing expeditions and may not recognize the scam when it comes over the phone. That’s why I want to warn you.
Skepticism is a healthy thing, and we should never hesitate to question anything that seems just a little off.
Meanwhile, on the chance that even one of the people reading this is now forewarned against this latest round of thievery, it will have been worth the ink.
Labels: credit card, fraud, phishing, scam
posted by The Voice | 5:05 PM
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