Australian number, a robot announced that Visa had detected $1600 of gift cards had been bought with my credit card - press 1 to decline, 2 to confirm.

So, I pressed 2. It put me through to a very polite gentleman who had no idea what to do if the person they’re trying to scam says they did spend all that money on the gift cards, and after a very confused attempt to convince me I didn’t buy all the gift cards, he hung up. They maybe need to improve their script.

Just an FYI - Visa won’t call you directly about suspicious activity on your card, that’s the job of your bank. If you get a call like that and you really can’t be sure it’s a scam, hang up and call your bank with whatever number is on their website and get them to confirm.

I knew the scam was a scam instantly, because I have set the limit on my credit card as low as it can go, so it is actually impossible to buy so many gift cards with it. Always set your credit limit as low as you can handle to limit your risk if you do fall for a scam.

  • @[email protected]
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    fedilink
    English
    41 year ago

    If you get a call like that and you really can’t be sure it’s a scam, hang up and call your bank with whatever number is on their website and get them to confirm.

    This! Hang up, ring your bank to make sure nothing has actually happened and let them know the time, phone number the call came from and a rough idea of the script i.e they said I’d bought $1600 worth of Countdown gift cards or whatever the case is so the bank can update their webpage of current scam alerts.

    • aeternum
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      fedilink
      31 year ago

      Same with any scam. If you suspect it’s a scam, ring the company yourself and confirm. Not just this scam, but ATO scams, and Centrestink scams and microshaft scams etc. Don’t fall for this shit.