Newest Internet Scam Very Devious - Don't Get Caught by 'Vishing'

[djkimmel]

From Aol Discover:

If You Get This E-Mail, Delete It ASAP

The latest ploy to steal your credit card number and personal information is so believable that many are falling for it. Con artists are using the telephone in an attempt to trick you to act on an e-mail that looks like it was sent from PayPal, eBay's online payment service.

The e-mail uses the same slick come-on as many nefarious attempts to steal your personal information, warning you there was a problem with your PayPal account. But there is no link to click. Instead, users are asked to call a phone number where an automated answering machine asks for account information, mimicking the legitimate ways that customers interact with financial institutions, reports The Associated Press. Read complete info and tips on Aol Discover

[djkimmel]

I can see how many people might fall for this latest con because sometimes you just get a phone call directly from someone who already knows your credit card number somehow. Then they ask for the 3 digit security code from the back of the card.

Always say no and call back a known number from your credit card company to ask them if they contacted you. This happened to my wife once some time ago. I told the lady on the phone that I had no idea who she was or if she was legitimate and that we would call the company back ourselves using the number on her card.

In the end the company told us the call had been legitimate but I told them that them contact us out of the blue from an unknown number, considering all the scams out there, was a poorly thought out plan, and that I hoped any customer would know better than to give someone who contacted them any personal information since there would be no way to know for sure if they were legitimate.