Beware of New Credit Card Scam
December 12, 2007
Just in time for the holiday season, a new credit card scam is showing its ugly face. In this scam, which currently seems to be restricted to California, telemarketers representing themselves as employees for Wal-Mart are calling people and attempting to get credit card information over the phone.
The pitch is fairly straightforward. According to the Better Business Bureau, phone telemarketers, posing as Wal-Mart representatives, are calling people and promising them a $25 gift card for a one-time processing fee of $1.
This particular scam is somewhat different than some used in the past in that caller claims to already have the credit card number of the person being called, but they simply need to verify it in order to validate the gift card and to institute the $1 fee.
As you might imagine, once the con has the credit card number they can easily steal from the account.
A spokesperson for Wal-Mart said that Wal-Mart would never call a customer at home and request a credit card number. If anyone receives this type of phone call they should contact the police immediately.
Doug Broten, President of the Better Business Bureau, went even farther and said that consumers should try to caller’s phone number and company information which might make it easier for the authorities to track the caller.