Telephone marketing has become the new playground of computer programmers to the point of making a popular home appliance a pain the posterior to the point many are responding to by cancelling their "land line" service only to find the purveyors on our cell phones.
I get a dozen calls a day and half of them are about something I am supposed to have ordered, but did not, and always costs several hundred Dollars! I have found a way to dispense these people, most of whom have Indian or Pakistani accents, by asking them for the last four digits of the credit card on which they claim I used.
"We are not allowed to quote any card numbers," is the response, but often as not I am quickly hearing a dial tone. The occasional of these clerks will put me on hold and never come back and I can only wonder where this scam was going. I can only suppose they would want to get my credit card for the purpose of selling the number.
I have been with Visa, MasterCard and Discover. I am no longer with Visa or Mastercard as they have been difficult to deal with when my card numbers were compromised. I have not lost anything with them as I was persistent in my objections, but it took time. Discover is much easier to deal with and often jump on scamsters where there is likely a question about the authenticity of the transaction.
In one case a guy in Finland tried to charge four airline tickets for flights from Finland to South Africa on my card. I am in California! Discover stopped that one instantly, then changed my card number making it necessary for me to inform all of my recurring charge accounts for TV, telephone, Internet service, Amazon and Ebay purchases, garbage pickup and install my new number. A real "pain-in-the-butt" but better than being scammed for several hundred Dollars.
A guy recently tried to charge $119 worth of gasoline on my Discover card in Ohio and they stopped that instantly as the charge was made in Ohio and I am in California, plus what kind of car takes 60 gallons of gas at the $2.85 per gallon it was selling for in Ohio at that time. I have little to no doubt VISA or Mastercard would not have noticed the transaction and it would take me months to sort it out as I had such problems with both those companies. Both resolved the transactions, but only after substantial complaining on my part.
We pay a price for instant commerce today and can only wonder what it will be like when everything is done on electronic cards when we end currency and coin. The day is coming.
Adrian Vance
You need to go the way of Dave Ramsey and tear up all of your credit cards. A debit card from a bank works as well as a credit card and yo can only be scammed for what you have in your account not a penny more.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there is often a very substantial amount of money in my bank account if I am between a couple of deals or are just "on-the-side" for a while. Where I no longer bank in California, but in Utah, Wyoming or Arizona I can only function with cards and checks.
DeleteThat’s a good point from Dave Ramsey’s radio show, but don’t forget bank cash is not always safe if we don’t peruse statements. There used to be scams where we are manipulated to deposit a check, giving criminals your exact account name and number. Perhaps a bigger problem is evidenced by the 350 million $ that N. Korea has allegedly hacked from banks worldwide. They manipulate dark internet info that includes American’s personal information and it’s not hard to avoid attention if they only move small amounts from you into false accounts that regularly open and close.
DeleteNot everyone has the time to balance checkbooks or scrutinize online banking withdrawals. If you have as much money as Ramsey, you might want to freeze your data at the four credit bureaus to stop bogus credit card accounts in your name. You will need to reinstate the bureaus if you apply for a mortgage or buy a new car.
I will no longer bank with Bank of America or Wells Fargo for problems of this kind, as well as other more disturbing incidents. You almost have to check on account activity every other day, like two or three times a week. I will no longer bank in California, and that is another story, and am presently with DISCOVER and for 14 years they have given me 100% accurate service and the evil California Franchise Tax Board cannot touch me. That is another story...
DeleteI only use a prepaid loadable card to purchase anything over the internet, loaded with just enough to cover the purchase. It's a pain in the butt sometimes, but so would the alternative be. Anything else in a real store I use good old cash. So far, so good.
ReplyDelete"Loadable cards" is a new concept to me. I will have to look into it, but I am so happy with the Discover Card/Bank service I will probably just stick with them and be wary as it is an ugly world out there. I have been with Discover for 15 years and they have never failed me.
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