RSS Electronic Edition | Newsletters Subscribe | Customer Service Contact Us | Community Buy Photos Modmomsclub

Business - Scam Alert

Sunday, Oct. 04, 2009

Scam Alert: Using your pin to check fraud

E-Mail Print

• THE SCAM: Credit card PIN

• HOW IT WORKS: Losing money: bad. Losing your credit card number: worse. Giving out the identification numbers on the back of your credit card: disastrous. Someone who claims to work at the victim's credit card company says it has detected possible fraud on the account. The caller asks for the last three digits of the number on the back of the card "for verification purposes." That number is the personal identification security number for the card, and it can be used for Internet transactions, phone transactions and other kinds of fraud.

• WHAT'S AT STAKE: Your credit account, which can be quickly run up by clever con artists.

• HOW TO BEAT IT: Even if the caller claims to be from your credit card company, don't give out the PIN. Say you'll check on the fraud situation yourself, and hang up.

For a look at past scams, go to www.modbee.com/business/scam.