Beware the Latest Credit Card Scam

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Sean Douglas of Alphacard Services called and asked for my boss. He actually left his contact info with me to pass long. He said it was regarding a Risk Matrix Score. I have fielded enough of these types of calls that I was skepical, sure enough this is the first website that popped up...BEWARE

amy of CA 1:28PM October 22, 2009

is there any scams on j crew

mbutler of AL 1:35PM May 04, 2009

Fraudulent checks were printed and cashed in another city that went through our account. We caught this early when only four checks had been cashed. The checks had our B of A routing number and our account number with similar but ficticious names and a similar but non-existent address. One of the checks had my wife's correct driver's license number on it, obviously written by the clerk who cashed it - so a fake driver's license had also been created. B of A was very cooperative in immediately crediting us with the amounts that had been deducted from our account and in flagging the account as fraudulent so no more checks would be processed, but beyond that it was all up to us. We spent well over 6 weeks of work getting Affidavits notarized and submitted to B of A, Credit Reporting Agencies, a Check collection agency, police departments, etc., swearing we did not cash the checks and had no knowledge of who did. (This is not easy because nearly every organization has a different form.) Worse, one check was cashed at Walmart, which doesn't send your check through the Bank - they scan and collect the electronic information at the cash register and give the check back to you, so there was no copy of the fraudulent check cashed and therefore no false signatures, no false names or false bank image. They turned it over to a collection agency, which was rude and treated us like criminals, making it very difficult to get the paperwork submitted and "investigated" before finally backing off. Worse, now there was a fraudulent driver's license in use with my wife's real number and a similar name and address. We feared this id could be used in various criminal schemes and the police could issue a warrant for her arrest. The state driver's license bureau was very uncooperative, callous and belligerent in getting a new driver's license number issued. Local police did not want to handle the matter because the checks were not cashed here. Police in the city where they were cashed didn't care because it is routine and they don't have the manpower, plus we were not citizens of that city. But you need a police report for the affidavits. Only after great pressure did they take a police report and only gave us the number after repeated phone calls. We never discard checks or any sensitive information in the trash, shredding everything. But retail outlets often write down your number on checks. Plus, the check with the DL# is seen by many in the processing. Doctor's offices and others want to make copies of your DL. Beware! Do not allow anyone to write down your DL# or make a copy of your DL. Get a locking mailbox and use electronic statements with strong passwords and ids. This is a nightmare!

Bob Williams of TX 11:16AM March 15, 2009

Last July (2008) I didn't notice that I had not received my Citicard Bank statement. However, I did realize that there was a problem when I did not receive my August statement. I called Citicard and was informed that it had been mailed to me but maybe the mail was slow. I replied that it was now three days longer than usual. After more reassurances from customer service, the representative said it had been sent to my home in Bakersfield on the usual date and I should be receiving it in a few days. Oops, I don't live in Bakersfield. After being transferred to the fraud department it was found that three charges totaling over $3,000 were on my August account for electronic equipment I did not buy. The person in the fraud division said she would remove those charges and contacted one of the credit agencies about the fraud and they notified the two other credit agencies. I asked for a copy of my July bill and they said it would it would be mailed to me...it wasn't or else it was mailed to Bakersfied. It took three more phone calls to have the July statement sent to me and there were three more electronic equipment charges for over $3000. After reporting this to the police and FTC and filling out a seven page document for Citicard, I assumed that was the end of the problem. It wasn't. Every month after this had the July fraudulent charges plus interest and late fees. This went on for five months with many phone calls to finally have my account straightened out.
Now, this problem was due to someone at Citicard changing my address without verifying this with me. How much trouble would it be to call the phone number on my account to verify if there really was an address change?

Richard Tubbs of CA 8:01PM March 14, 2009

Is this company a credit card scam?cashflowfromcreditcards.com

Shelly of VA 2:01AM November 14, 2008

Thank you for sharing this article. But I must also share that we need to beware of even the "legitimate" credit card companies like Capital One.
I recently received a "special offer" for 0% APR for 12 months from Capital One. The letter stated that if I used any of the three attached checks by the deadline, I would receive this low interest rate for a year. So I used two checks (both of which were attached to this letter).
However, when the transactions went through, one apparently came in as a convenience check and the other as an access check. So they started charging me a finance fee for the so called convenience check. The problem here is that it was not a convenience check. They came from the same stub, attached to the same letter. How can they come in differently? I even verified that I met all the requirements - use by date, etc.
So I called customer service and the woman was very helpful at first. She told me that I was right and that she would have it fixed. "Just check your next statement." Guess what happened?
I had to call a second time because not only did the balance not move over to 0% interest, but now they need to credit me the finance charge for the last two statements. The first woman apparently only "put in a request" and it was denied by the higher-ups. Was anyone going to let the customer know?
Now, I must call a third time to talk to a "senior account manager" because this second woman can't do anything about it.
The moral of the story: make sure you check your finance charges and question fees that don't make sense. And here's probably the bigger lesson: don't ever use the checks that come in the mail claiming 0% interest b/c even when you read the fine print and everything is what it's supposed to be, they still get you. Though I will continue to try to get my money back, this "processing error" is a pain in the you know what. I wonder how many processing errors occur each day.
Now, I can't wait to talk to someone overseas that I can barely understand, to explain the story again, to get transferred back over to the US/Canada, then to be transferred to the senior manager as they don't have a direct line. Better luck to you!

C. Logins of NY 1:43AM September 25, 2008

Not all calls are fraud, we were called once by the "fraud dept". They said there was suspicious activity on our card, and wanted to confirm if we made a certain purchase-$2000 from New York, which we did not. He supplied us with the correct credit card #. We were prepared to not reveal any information that is needed for identity theft, but no such questions was asked, as the bank already has all the info on us and the card. As he could sense that we were cautious, he said he understood if we did not want to talk to him, and supplied the # of the bank. He then said that as there does appear to be fraud, to prevent future problems for us on that account #, he was cancelling our card, and a new one will be sent with a different account #.
Just in case this was a smart conman who would call back later and ask for security info that he "forgot" to ask for initially, we did not want to use the phone # that he supplied, we called the bank # listed on the back of the card. This did not turn out to be the same number that he supplied! They transferred us to their fraud dept, that did confirm everything that was discussed in the first phone call. We received the replacement card a few days later.

Fred of CA 10:53PM September 07, 2008

A couple years ago CitiBank offered a one-time low interest rate of 4.9% to transfer a balance from another card. They promised that the 4.9% rate would NEVER change unless we added to the balance, which we NEVER did. They constantly tried to get us to up it, to no avail. Now we recently discovered that for the past several months we have been paying a rate of 19.90% - they upped the rate with no notice, and since we were promised the rate would NEVER change, we didn't notice the increased rate till now. I promised them that I would get the word out about their under-handed tactics, including on the net - So here I am!! They may have managed to steal from us for the past several months, but I'll make sure it costs them more in the long-run! Needless to say, we closed the account immediately. So Beware - 'before signing on the dotted line'.

Penny 10:58PM August 18, 2008

Capital one has, for the last two month, charged me a finance charge. They say that intrest may be charged for a large purchsaed until you pay your monthly bill

Robert R Alderfer of PA 8:08AM July 11, 2008

This is a great (but insidious) use of social engineering. Of course, a lot of people will fall for this one. Everybody is so frightened of ID theft and fraud that they may let their guards down when confronted with this, especially if it's from "the fraud department."
Your advice is excellent.

Bill Davis of CA 4:18PM May 16, 2008