Just had an email from my gaffer
There is a new and clever credit card scam - be wary of those who come
bearing gifts.
Please circulate this to everyone you know, especially your family and friends.
It just happened to someone a week or so ago in St. Albans , and it can
pretty well now be happening anywhere else in the country.
It works like this: Wednesday a week ago, they had a phone call from someone
who said that he was from some outfit called "Express Couriers"
asking if they were going to be home because there was a
package for them, and the caller said that the delivery would arrive
at their home in roughly an hour.
And sure enough, about an hour later, a Delivery man turned up with a
beautiful Basket of flowers and wine. they were very surprised since
it did not involve any special occasion or holiday, and they certainly
didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued about who would send them
such a gift, they inquired as to who the sender was.
The deliveryman's reply was, he was only delivering the gift
package, But allegedly a card was being sent separately;
(the card has never arrived!).
There was also a consignment note with the gift.
He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there
was a £3.00 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the
package to an adult, And not just left it on the doorstep to just be stolen
or taken by anyone.
This sounded logical and they offered to pay him cash.
He then said that the company required the payment to be by credit or debit
card only so that everything is properly accounted for.
The husband, who, by this time, was standing beside his wife, pulled out of his
wallet his credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man", Asked the
husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which had a small
screen and keypad where he was also asked to enter The card's PIN and
security number. A receipt was printed out and given to them.
To their surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, £4,000
had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various
ATM machines, Particularly in the Midlands area!
It appears that somehow the "mobile credit card machine" which the
deliveryman carried was able to duplicate and create a "dummy" card(?) with
all their card details, After the husband swiped their card and entered the
requested PIN and security number.
Upon finding out the illegal transactions on their card, of course, they
immediately notified the bank which issued them the card, and the credit/debit
account has been closed.
They also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is
definitely a scam because several households have been similarly hit.
WARNING:
Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package", which you
neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind
of payment as a Condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never
accept anything if you do not personally know and/or there is no proper
identification of who the sender is.
Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card
information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!
Thanks for taking your time to read this
Dave Reid
Broughton Police Station
01772 863390
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(oh and a glass rear screen and bits of shiny stuff)