A ‘credit card company’ calls about fraud — but they’re the scammer
It is a scam with a somewhat Hollywood plot reminiscent of Ocean’s 11. One District resident said she got a call from her credit card company about fraudulent purchases, but they were in fact the scammers.
The victim, who wished to remain anonymous, said she got a call last week from a number she had saved in her phone as American Express.
“They said they were the fraud department and that there were what looked like fraudulent charges on my account and did I try to charge $3,500 on a hotel in Indonesia? I said, ‘No, of course not,’” she told WTOP.
They were, however, able to tell her other charges that she did indeed make.
He asked if she had her card with her and for her security code to verify. She gave it to him and realized that something fishy had taken place and hung up immediately and called American…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.