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Volume 11: 03.05.2006: Electronic Security
Rant
This time 'round,
I've got a rant for you. These are my (and
only my) two cents. (See disclaimer on
bottom left.)
Credit
Card Security
My Hillyard business has a
website. When I decided over 5 years ago to embark
on giving my company a web-presence, I had no idea
what we would be exposed to. In addition to tons of
new customers, many new scammers were able to find
us. Not only do spammers send unwanted e-mails to
our e-mail address posted on our website, but a much
more insidious villain was able to get our
information.
On an otherwise normal day, my
dad got a call from a hearing impaired phone
service. They provide a service for the hearing
impaired to make regular phone calls, buy speaking
what the impaired person types on the other end.
While this is a great use of today's fine
technology, it can be used for more sinister means.
In fact, the translation by the operator makes it
really easy to change the subject and/or confuse the
hearing person. The customer identified himself as a
Reverend, and said he wanted to purchase a golf
cart. He wasn't picky about which one, and he didn't
mention where he was from, but Dad didn't suspect
anything was awry. Dad gave him our e-mail address
to continue the discussion, so as to not use up so
many cell phone minutes (these hearing impaired
translation calls tend to take a while.) After
some clumsy e-mail communications, the Reverend said
he wanted to buy a cart, but every time Dad asked
where the cart was to go, the Reverend would change
the subject again. I caught very little of this as
we were pretty busy at the time, but one day I
walked into the shop and Dad was again talking to
this guy, trying to run his credit card. The first
card didn't go through, the second card didn't go
through, I emphatically told Dad to get this guy off
the phone, he was trying to scam us and Dad did.
We did some searching for
scams on the internet and found that the Secret
Service had a few articles on their website about
this sort of thing, so we called the Spokane field
office (Who knew the SS had a Spokane field
office?). They suggested we not talk to the guy
and because the credit card numbers were probably
stolen, we should contact our credit card merchant
provider to report the credit cards. Thus began a
two hour journey into the fallacy that is credit
card fraud reporting.
As the
Secret Service suggested, I called the number on the
side of my credit card machine. I pressed 1
for English. I got an operator pretty quickly
and she said I had to call the credit card's issuing
company. I said, "How am I supposed to know
who the issuing company is?" She told me to
call MasterCard, after I read her the numbers.
I said okay, I figured I could find a fraud
reporting number on the MasterCard website. I
figured wrong. After a few minutes of
searching their website I found a customer service
number to call. (I honestly can't remember
how, I looked just now and couldn't find it again.)
When I called MC, I pressed 1 for English, and it
asked for my credit card number. Pause.
What the heck am I supposed to put in? Not
thinking quickly I typed in one of the numbers the
crook had given me. It asked for zip code, so
I put in the one he gave us. Luckily the zip
didn't match which bounced me pretty quickly to an
operator. I tried to report the cards to her
and she said I had to call the issuing bank.
"How the heck am I supposed to know who the issuing
bank is?" I read her the numbers and she told
me Citibank. At this point, I'm thinking two
things, "Shouldn't MasterCard have a fraud reporting
service I can work with?" and "Citibank is a
big bank, they must have a good fraud
reporting service." Ha Ha, yea right.
I got
Citibank's number from the MC lady and called them.
Again with the pressing 1, again with the "enter
your card number." This time, I figure I'll
just press 0 sixteen times for the card number and
again for the zip. This connects me to a very
nice, but not very helpful young lady. I
explained to her my issue, and she promised to help
me, though it took several holds and several, "I'm
going to have to ask my manager," and eventually a
confused conversation with what she thought was the
fraud reporting department. She transferred me
after about 10 minutes and the guy she transferred
me to laughed and gave me the right number for
Citibank's fraud reporting department.
"Yes,
I'm on the home stretch, I've almost done my duty to
report this guy." I dial up the number, again
with the pressing 1, but no asking for credit card
numbers, "we're making progress." A rather
unhelpful and uninterested woman asks if she can
help me. (The tone of her voice tells me
she doesn't really want to. Mind you this is
the frickin' fraud department, the ones who are
supposed to be keeping our electronic information
safe.) I tell her my story, like a
hero recanting his tales of bravery.
"What
are the card numbers." She says, still bored.
I list them, my mood dampening, I'm pretty sure
she's not impressed with me doing my duty.
"Are there any more?" She asks.
"No," I say, "just the two."
All I get is an, "Okay."
(No,
"Thank you." No, "Hey, good work, thanks for
keeping our paying customers safe." No, "We
will look into it.")
So, me
being me, I decide to try and make it better, "Hey,
since I got you on the phone, is there a fraud
reporting line that I just couldn't find that would
have gotten me right to you? You know, an easy
way to report these kinds of things so you can
better keep your card members safe."
Long
pause, "I can give you the number to reach our
department sir."
"No, no,
no, no, you don't understand. I'm saying if
you don't, you should have an easy to
find fraud reporting number."
Nothing,
silence on the line.
"Could
you pass that on to your superiors, please?" I
am defeated.
"Yes
sir."
"Okay,
thanks, bye." And then I got out my Citibank
credit card and cut it up into little bitty pieces
and then burned them and then dropped them in
battery acid.
I DON'T
GET IT! With identity theft and the stealing
of credit card numbers rampant, how can it be so
incredibly difficult to report fraud? How can
it take SO long to find out how to report these
things. I gotta tell you, I've never been a
paranoid double shredder who won't use his credit
card if the numbers ever leave my control, but after
this, I'm considering it.
More
information about "Nigerian" scams:
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