| Credit Card Fraudsters - A warning to all ! |
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They say that you learn something new every day and I totally believe it after what happened to me over the weekend while delivering the latest Trader's Edge boot-camp at the Holiday Inn in Solihull.
When we came back from lunch after locking the meeting room I got a call from a man who asked for me by name telling me that he was from Lloyds TSB fraud department and went on to tell me that he had reason to believe that my credit cards had been stolen. he then started to real off a list of places whereby the thieves had been shopping in the local area. He then told me not to worry because a member of staff from teh hotel had since been arrested after trying to withdraw a large sum of cash from my bank account. The bank was apparently suspicious of the "false looking" identification they provided and had them arrested.
After telling me of all the money that had been spent from my account and the recent capture of one of the culprits he then told me that they must have an accomplice who had duplicated my cards because they were still trying to spend money in various shops in the area. He told me not to worry because he could put a block on my cards and issue me with new ones and all he needed to do that was to confirm my 16 digit long number... I of course told him that I didn't have those details and carried on listening to his story. He then said that it didn't matter that I didn't have the long number and that he could still cancel my cards and issue my with new ones and that all he needed to do so was for me to confirm my PIN number... Nice try eh !
I of course didn't give him the number but offered to go to the branch he was calling from and see him face to face. At this point he put the phone down on me very quickly. I immediately called my "real" bank to have my cards blocked and told them what had happened, they told me that it is happening all the time and that some people actually fall for this cleverly thought out trick.
The thing that made me laugh was that the culprits had the nerve to go to the hotel and demand that they open the meeting room to replenish the water and put out fresh glasses for the delegates and the hotel staff actually let them in. How stupid is that ?
The reason I decided to write this blog is to warn everyone who reads it to NEVER EVER give out your credit card details and especially the PIN number to anyone over the phone. Had I have done that, they would have been able to go straight back to the cash point and withdraw cash using my PIN number.
Please be smart and keep your PIN numbers a secret, even from the ones you love. You never know who may ask them for it...
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