Received a strange phone call yesterday. It started with "we can help you get 6.9% on your credit card balances. Press 1 to speak to an operator." Being curious, I pressed the 1-especially since I do not carry a balance on my credit card and have a pretty good rate if I did.
This woman went into a big speach on the advantages of her company and, after 15 seconds, I realized she was not from my bank. So I asked her which credit card she represented. She replied "We work with all 521 credit card companies." She then started asking a bunch of personal questions. RED FLAG!
At which point, I replied "I do not give out any personal information to a stranger". She just pressed the disconnect button. It was an Oregon exchange (503). Not that it means anything since these scammers are all over the place and change numbers quicker than you can smoke an analog.
Your bank, credit card company, or even PayPal, will NEVER ask you to confirm your information either by phone or online with an email. The only phone number you should use is the one on the back of your credit card. Call them immediately to report the incident.
Read one good tip on online passwords. Use the first or second letters of the words of your favorite song, book, line of poetry, etc. mixed in with a few numbers. Passwords generally have to be 6 characters minimum. Here is a silly one: Mary Had A Little Lamb Whose....... turns into with a few numbers: mhallw49. If it is not in the dictionary, you have a fairly robust password. Google it to make sure.
Stay safe!
This woman went into a big speach on the advantages of her company and, after 15 seconds, I realized she was not from my bank. So I asked her which credit card she represented. She replied "We work with all 521 credit card companies." She then started asking a bunch of personal questions. RED FLAG!
At which point, I replied "I do not give out any personal information to a stranger". She just pressed the disconnect button. It was an Oregon exchange (503). Not that it means anything since these scammers are all over the place and change numbers quicker than you can smoke an analog.
Your bank, credit card company, or even PayPal, will NEVER ask you to confirm your information either by phone or online with an email. The only phone number you should use is the one on the back of your credit card. Call them immediately to report the incident.
Read one good tip on online passwords. Use the first or second letters of the words of your favorite song, book, line of poetry, etc. mixed in with a few numbers. Passwords generally have to be 6 characters minimum. Here is a silly one: Mary Had A Little Lamb Whose....... turns into with a few numbers: mhallw49. If it is not in the dictionary, you have a fairly robust password. Google it to make sure.
Stay safe!
