Credit Card Fraud – Fake Confirmation Number

If you work in a retail store or any other business that accepts credit cards in person, please be aware of the follow fraud tactic that was recently used.

• 2 customers walk into a retail store
• They select $8000 worth of products
• At the checkout they present a credit card
• The credit card is rejected
• The customers say something along the lines of

  "Oh I knew that would happen. Please call my bank, here’s the number"

• The store attendant calls the number provided by the customers
• The person at the end of the phone approves the purchase and gives the store attendant some kind of confirmation number
• The customers walk out of the store with $8000 worth of products

The number they gave wasn’t a real bank’s phone number. It was their friend answering the call.

Lesson to be learnt? Don’t call the number given to you by the purchaser. Look it up yourself or call your phone company’s directory service.

The full article is here.