Scammers have new way to snag your credit card number

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Story Published: Apr 30, 2007 at 7:03 AM PDT

Story Updated: May 2, 2007 at 12:00 PM PDT

By Herb Weisbaum

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SEATTLE - You've got to hand it to the bad guys on the Internet; the ones who try to steal your person information. They're always coming up with something new.

This time it’s the old phisher scam – designed to snag your Social Security number and credit card information – with a strange twist.

The mass e-mail I saw claimed to be from Bank of America -- big banks are a prime target for these scams because they have so many customers.

The e-mail says, "During our regular update and verification we could not verify your current phone number. Either your information has been changed or it is incomplete."

The message tells you to confirm your phone number right away “or your account will be suspended indefinitely.”

Not only are you supposed to give them you phone number, you're instructed to forward your calls to the Bank of America Security Department, and they give you that number.

"Bank of America will verify your phone number," the e-mail says, "and will disable call forward within 20 minutes.”

Once you've done all this, you're told to submit all your personal information, including credit card number.

Don't do it. Don't do any of it. This e-mail is not from the bank and that number does not go to their security department. It goes to the identity thieves.

Why would the scammers want you to forward your calls to them? Because once they start using your credit card number, the bank might suspect fraud and call you. But with your number forwarded, a fraud check phone call from your bank goes to the bad guys, not you. That gives them more time to do more damage before they are detected.

More Information:

Emerging Threat: Please forward your phone number to our Skype number!

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