mcparrot

I was almost scammed yesterday. Got a phone call ostensibly from my bank and he (UK accent, slightly unusual but not impossible) launched right away into reassurance that he wasn't going to ask for my PIN or account details. Said he was from my bank's fraud dept and my credit card had been used for a transaction for over $1800.00 in Singapore, so as they knew I lived in Auckland, he was checking I wasn't on vacation there. I said no I wasn't.

He assured me they would block the payment, but said that unfortunately as someone had my card details, the bank would have to cancel my card and mail me a replacement. I moaned a bit about the hassle. Then he said he needed me to check my texts as there should be one related to the scam transaction. There was. Then he said could I read out the 6 digit authorisation number so he could cancel it. But the authorisation number had only 4 digits, so I got suspicious, told him I'd call my bank, and disconnected. Would I have fallen for it if he'd got the number of digits right? I hope not, but am unsure.

Sure enough it was a scam, and my bank's fraud dept hadn't contacted me. There was a small sum the scammer had tried to charge to my card, and my bank said if I'd given him the authorisation number he'd in fact have charged a huge amount to my card. The bad news is that the bank still have to cancel my card, and the REALLY ANNOYING news is that they're based in both Aussie and NZ and their new procedure is to mail my new card from fucking Australia, not locally. I know from past experience that mail from Aussie can take bloody weeks, so that's a huge bummer. (They say max. 2 weeks but I don't believe it). I have several payments automatically set up on my card and they're going to start bouncing.

Anyway, I'll just be over here gnashing my teeth, but be aware of this scam - they're very slick and believable. Don't ever give anyone purporting to be from your bank a texted (etc.) transaction authorisation number, no matter how small the amount is. In fact, don't do anything at all if "your bank" calls you. Hang up and call your bank to check.