Credit Card Interest Scam
Continue Saga on the classic Credit Card Interest Scam
Over the past few weeks I have been getting a lot of calls from "Merchant Services." These calls are not really from any of my credit card banks but rather from scammers pretending to be from "Merchant Services" with the sole goal to trick me into giving them my credit card information.
Sample of a Fake Call
This time when I got the call, I had downtime and had time to play around. This time I got further into the call than ever before.
Usually I don't get beyond giving them a fake card. But just my luck, Capital One services was down - so they weren't able to verify the credit card number.
Six Things I Learned about the Credit Card Interest Scam
- The first guy transferred me to the next person whose goal was to convince me that I should use their program. They do this to make it appear to be a big company, (A no time during this call was I ever asked for my name - yet everything I gave them matched fine with their records.)
- Where are you? I asked the second guy where he was located and he told me in Orlando, Fl. He went on to tell me that "Merchant Services" had offices in NJ, Chicago, and Los Angeles. I told him that I was surprised they didn't have an office in New York - the financial capital of the world. All of a sudden they did - he forgot to mention it.
- Credit Card Limit - The guy asked what was my limit on my card - I told them it was about $2,100. This was the first time that I have ever been asked for my credit limit on any of these Credit Card Interest Scam calls. (Hmm why would they need to know this?)
- To get the zero Interest - the guy told me that I would have to get a new credit card. The cost to set up and transfer all the funds would be a one-time payment of $1,500. (Amazing how close to my credit limit that amount it.) They wanted my Social Security number so they could open up my account.
- Where are you calling from? I told the guy that I was nervous about giving my information because the caller Is showed the number coming from Lowell Public Schools. He then said that he would call me direct. A minute later he called me from '(866) 696-5487' - which was supposed to be from Merchant Services. It's not. It's just a spoof 866 number.
- You Don't Need my Social Security Number - I kept working with the guy and why he needed my Social Security. He kept telling me that I am protected by my credit card company if I didn't believe him. I then reminded him that my credit card company wouldn't protect my Social Security number from being out in the open.
I gave up on the call after a while. As I had other things to do. They did try calling my back a could of times on the (866) 696-5487' number.