Police Warn Public of Credit Card Scam

Police are warning the public to be on the lookout for a scam involving credit card numbers.

In the scam, a caller claims to be from the credit card company’s security and fraud department inquiring about a questionable charge to the person’s credit card.

The caller then provides the person’s correct credit card number, the name of the issuing bank and the cardholder’s address. The caller then promises to credit the amount of the supposed fraudulent purchase to the account and to open a fraud investigation, and gives the cardholder a “control number” for tracking the investigation.

The caller then asks for the three-digit security code on the back of the card, supposedly to confirm that the card is actually in the cardholder’s possession.

The cardholder later finds unauthorized charges to the account that the scammer was able to make using the security code.

Police advise that any members of the public who receive such calls to hang up, even if it sounds legitimate. The cardholder should then call the credit card company directly using the phone number on the credit card rather than any phone number the caller might provide.