Hey Veterans: Be Alert For These Time-Tested Credit Card Scam Tactics!
Hey Veterans: Have you ever received fraudulent charges on your credit card?
Do you know someone who fell for a scam involving their card?
Well, if you don’t know anyone who has fallen victim to fraud tactics and have had to repair their own credit (like in this article) you might be living in a very remote area with almost no access to the internet.
The fact is that most people who are even only slightly involved in online activities are already victims of identity theft and probably don’t even know it.
The reason is that there have been so many breaches of supposedly secure online institutions that criminals already have most Americans social security numbers and a lot more info than we’d like to think.
I call this the chronic problem that quite frankly, almost none of us can escape.
However, that doesn’t mean you should just throw your hands up and randomly give up your credit card information to any random online or real life huckster.
These are situations that can create an acute problem that causes a rush of very painful, very stressful, in-your-face emotions and activity.
This literally forces you go into survival mode in a one-on-one fight with criminals.
We’ve still got to keep ourselves safe however we can.
How To Get Off The Scam Victim Wagon
Since we know that there are always scams and pitfalls ready to pounce on the unsuspecting, it’s better to be armed with the knowledge of how exploiters work.
Then, you can be alert and ready when shady situations present themselves. So here are 5 credit card fraud schemes to be aware of:
1. Credit Card Skimmers
Whenever you are using a machine such as an ATM that seems to have a weird cover on the swipe area, BEWARE! A criminal might have placed a device designed to copy your magnetic stripe information as well as a camera to record any pin information you might type into the terminal. This gives them the keys to the kingdom and sets you up for some real pain in the near future.
2. You Missed Jury Duty Scam
We all know it’s our civic duty to show up for jury duty, but sometimes we just don’t see the darned piece of mail in all the junk mail that is constantly overflowing our mailboxes.
We also know that some jurisdictions will try to make life very difficult for anyone who skips jury duty.
Using this knowledge a popular scam involves a scammer calling you on the phone a claiming to be your jurisdiction who happens to be issuing a warrant for your arrest.
Flustered by the threat and inconvenience of jail, most people will gladly give up a lot of personal information, including credit card information, in order to avoid it.
3. The Defective Chip Card Scam
If you receive a call from your bank claiming that they need to send you a new chip card because of “an update” or “for security purposes”, hang up!
Then call your credit card company back using the number on the back of your card to discuss the situation.
It may be that you will find that someone was trying to play you and get you to give up some personal information. Congratulations, you just avoided some pain!
4. Better Credit Card Offer Scam
This one is slick. Imagine that you have been called by an account rep from your credit card company.
They say they have an offer of a better card for you due to your great credit history and standing as a long-time customer.
Maybe you’re a tiny bit wary until…they ask you to call them back on using the number on your credit card.
Seems Legit…Right?
The ruse here is that the scammer never actually hangs up! You press the numbers on the phone and get the scammer’s accomplice even though the person never really left.
Trust goes through the roof and you proceed to give them the keys to the kingdom. You have really got to be on your toes regarding these things nowadays.
5. The Corrupt Service Person Scam
This one can be difficult to avoid if you like interacting with service businesses such as restaurants or retail shops.
The scam works like this: the server or clerk takes your credit card and will then perform a double swipe.
The first swipe goes to the legit business. The second goes to a storage device for later use.
There was even a story of a Starbucks checkout clerk swiping customer credit cards while getting their latte’s. BUSTED!
See this video for more methods you need to protect yourself against.
If you have any other scams you know about, please inform everyone in our comments section or on our Facebook page!
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