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Beware of unexpected gifts |
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May 7, 2017 |
Police are warning of a new scam that is so
clever many who fall for don't realize they've
been robbed for days, and by then it's too late.
In this scheme to get the little bit of
information that is all a crook now needs to
steal your hard-earned money, victims receive a
phone call from a person claiming to be from a
delivery or courier business, complete with a
professional sounding name.
The "courier" tells you he has a package to
deliver and asks if you will be home (yes, he
knows your address) in about an hour as the
delivery requires a signature.
At the appointed time, a man in a professional
looking uniform walks up to your door carrying a
beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of
wine, even though it's not a holiday or any
other special occasaion that you're aware of.
When asked, the deliveryman can't tell you who
sent it, he's only the delivery man. Usually,
though, a card alerting the recipient is sent
... it just must be delayed this time.
Because the gift contains alcohol, he tells you,
there is a small fee for delivery as well as to
verify the recipient is of age to receive the
gift, usually just three or four dollars. The
delivery driver won't take cash; a credit card
is necessary, he says, as proof of age. If you
balk, more logical reasons are paraded, each one
a lie, just to get you to offer a credit card he
can swipe on the small device he has.
It doesn't even have to be you who provides the
card. Any other person in your house who looks
of age and offers a card is just as good.
The card is swiped, the PIN number entered, a
receipt is even printed out and given the card
holder, giving a sense that the transaction is
legitimate and nothing untoward has taken place.
Most won't notice that no small delivery fee was
deducted from their account, the recipient,
given a few days, will likely forget that a card
telling who the lovely gift was from was
expected.
In this scam, there is no such card, the machine
you swiped your card on made no transaction.
All it did was read your card and record your
data for the deliveryman and his posse, to be
used a few days later after you've forgotten
many of the details police would ask for to help
identify the person who gave you flowers and
wine.
You won't likely know that anything is amiss
until you check your account and realized that
your "card" had been used at various ATMs and
that the balance in your account suddenly took a
nose dive.
When you realize you've been scammed, you take
the usual and recommended actions, putting a
stop on the card, freezing or closing the
account, calling the police, but by then, the
crook is long gone and you don't remember much
to help authorities track down the culprit.
People are advised to 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! |
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