News Flash

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This one has just arrived and it is so simple in its operation

Cloning of cards is big business and if this acts as a warning it is worth posting it?
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Be wary of those who come bearing gifts.

It works like this:

I had a phone call (I’m in the Phone Book) from someone who said that he was from "Express Couriers" asking if I was going to be home because there was a package for me, and the caller said the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour or so.

Sure enough, about an hour later, a deliveryman turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve any special occasion or holiday, and I certainly didn't expect anything like it. I wondered who would send me such a gift, I asked who the sender is. The deliveryman's reply was, he was only delivering the gift package, a card was being sent separately I think; (the card has never arrived!). There was also a consignment note with this gift.

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a £3.50 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the package and not just left it on the doorstep to just be stolen or taken by anyone.

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said, they are not allowed to take cash, the company required the payment to be a credit or debit card only so that everything is properly accounted for, right address etc…

My husband, who, by this time, was standing beside me, pulled his wallet out of his pocket with the credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man", asked my husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine, which had a small screen and keypad where Frank was asked to enter the card's PIN and 3 digit security number. A receipt was printed out and given to us.

To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, £4,000+ had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various cash machines, particularly in the London area!

It appeared that somehow the "mobile credit card machine" which the deliveryman carried now had all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card details, after my husband swiped our card and entered the requested PIN and security number.

Upon finding out the illegal transactions on our card, of course, we immediately notified the bank, which issued us the card, and our credit/debit account had been closed.

We also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed by the Police it is definitely a scam, because several households have been similarly hit.

WARNING:
Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package", which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never accept anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper identification of who the sender is.

Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!

Re: News Flash

Thank you for that Michael.

Re: News Flash

Personally I wouldn't have accepted the package and definitely not paid them any money. There are some very gullible people about.

Re: News Flash

Its a worthwhile warning Michael.....

Re: News Flash

This email has been doing the rounds since 2008...the scam first started in Australia. Worth mentioning, if only just to keep everyone on their toes

Re: News Flash

I find it hard to believe anyone would fall for that and many of the other scams that are around.

Re: News Flash

Thankyou also form me for the warning Michael.
I have had a bit of a funny postal thing crop up recently. Just after Christmas I received an e-mail from Fedex ?? telling me that there was a parcel waiting for collection. It said I should print off the e-mail and take it to the local office so I could collect. I haven't ordered anything and I am not expecting anything, so I suspect it may be a scam. It didn't give a local collection address for Fedex, but there were order numbers and a receipt number which I had to give. I have ignored it, but am left wondering if it was genuine or not??????

Re: News Flash

If you have an order number etc it might be worth contacting Fedex.

http://www.fedex.com/gb/ukservices/
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Re: News Flash

Just a thought Rena but have you tried doing a search under Fedex with the order number and receipt number?
Or try looking at this http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q...-s=0&x=37&y=13
Snopes is very good for showing scams.