New Credit Card Scams

I dont let my card out my sight now - even had a spat in Currys recently because their card reader was broken they had to swipe my card on the till out of my line of visoion - i wasnt impressed !

Must admit i think most stores now dont actually allow their staff to handle cards, all restaurants ive been in recently bring a machine to your table.

I may be old school, but I still make sure I have enough cash to pay my bill in a restaurant - once bitten....

makes your blood boil

My card got cloned checking into a 5 star hotel

Unfortunately checkin staff, pizza staff etc are jobs that tend to attract younger people, pay lower wages and inevitably have a high attrition rate, making these roles good targets for scammers. Especially as they are normally customer facing roles.

As hdm's post says, be on your guard at all times. From experience it can be a complicated and frustrating process to sort out if you do get scammed and don't realise.

My business mastercard was cloned in the local Shell petrol station, it was easy to pinpoint as the monthly credit card statement went like this
diesel
diesel
diesel
diesel
diesel
zee tv
diesel
diesel
diesel

As I'm not Asian I'm hardly going to subscribe to an Asian television channel, it took a while to get the money back though...

Dang.

For most of last week, I have been getting phone calls from a blocked number. They don't say a word on the other end, and then just hang up. This carries on for about 2 or three times a day. So Saturday night, standing in the kitchen making supper, The news on the TV talks about a woman that had thousands taken from her bond account. How? By doing the exact same thing they did with me. Calling, not saying a word, and then hanging up. This must somehow be linked to some sort of virus, because she switched off her phone (they were annoying her), and when she tried to switch her phone on the next day her sim refused to work. They had blocked her out of her phone and ransacked her account all in the same day.

Moral of the story? Be careful what you do online, and be careful what you keep on your PC. Keep antivirus software updated at all times and don't let browsers remember your usernames and passwords.

To give a bit of an update, the calls stopped not too long after that, but started up a few days ago. This time they hang up as soon as I answer. So I will be changing my number or getting a new sim soon. Bloody pirates.

How does this work then?

Do they somehow scan your PC via your phone?

Technology is great, NOT !

Most people have phones that can access the net in some way. Nine times out of ten its a smart phone. If you have any kind of banking details on it, they can use it to access your accounts. All they need to do is block you out of your phone. They do that somehow by disabling your sim. I dont switch my phone off. Not until I get a new sim. Cant change my number it seems.