31 March 2013

Is this for REAL? (whitegoods scam bites consumers)

| Vix
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I was recently contacted by my real estate agent to say that she had arranged for a new stove to be paid for and picked up at a large well-known white goods supplier. So I rang them to arrange payment and to let them know that the plumber would pick it up in a day or two. Their response?

“If you want to pay for it in full but have someone else pick it up, you’ll have to scan and email or fax the front and back of your credit card and your driver’s licence.”

WTF? Apparently they had been stung twice that month with someone paying in full over the phone, someone different picking it up and then the original caller arriving and demanding a refund because their stove was not there…a clear case of fraud I would have thought…and their solution?

I asked the poor guy serving me if he was serious – clearly embarrassed he said he’d check with his supervisor…and came back to tell me that, yes, well, errr I would have to send them a copy of the front AND back of my credit card and my drivers licence…when I pointed out that there was no way on Earth I would be giving anyone those details he basically said then I wouldn’t be able to purchase the oven unless I went in in person to pay and collect it.

Has anyone else heard of something like this? And is anyone out there dumb enough to give these details to a supplier? Would love to know…

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Possibly the OP is the landlord, or a tenant who broke the old stove?

i haven’t heard of this…i don’t even understand it.

i wouldn’t have anything to do with it…landlord’s problem!

but agree with the other posts, why send a copy of the front and back of the CC. ridiculous

Felix the Cat11:12 am 02 Apr 13

I bought a new dishwasher for my investment property that is in another state from http://www.appliancesonline.com.au/ , very easy transaction and much cheaper than Harvey Norman etc. Didn’t have to photocopy credit card

JC said :

Welcome to 2013 unfortunately. We live in a world where a very small minority does the wrong thing and the rest of us get inconvenienced as a result.

One ood example being pre-pay on petrol pumps in certain locations after a given time. Really the same issue, maybe 1 in 200 “forget to pay” but as a result the rest of us pay through inconvenience, no matter who minor.

Though must admit I was surprised to see the Woolworths/Caltex in Kambah have that magic time set to 8pm, a tad early I would have thought.

ah yes the woolwroths in Kambah, I refuse to go to. I have a Woolworths CC which i can swipe at the pump. Twice i tried to do this until a booming voice over the PA told me to pay inside. Seriously prepaying at the pump was not this operators idea of prepaying…..

I’d be asking to talk to their privacy officer, for a copy of their privacy statement and confirmation of what they will use the information for, duration of them keeping it, where and how they will store it, their disposal strategy and what compensation is offered for a breach of your privacy resulting in unauthorised use of your personal and/or financial data. Make them justify their silliness 🙂

Seems fair enough. People will make all sorts of claims to deceive.

I cant understand why you would want to give those payment details to a random store employee over the phone anyway. You’ve just given them all the information they need to commit credit card fraud anyway.
The obvious solution is to let the plumber buy the item and add on his markup, or not be a lazy tightarse and just go pay for and pick it up yourself.

c_c™ said :

Madam Cholet said :

This reminds me of when a company calls you up to remind you to pay their bill – in my case probably credit card, and they say, ‘Before we continue, could you please verify your name, date of birth, yada yada’. I always apologise for the late payment, tell them I’m not going to give them my private details and advise I’ll jump online and pay straight away. Somewhat ironic that we are told time and time again to not give out details and yet they always ask. Throws them in to a spin. I always answer my phone by saying my name, so it’s a pretty good bet that it is actually me!

The reason they ask is because they already have those details up in front of them.

c_c™ said :

Madam Cholet said :

This reminds me of when a company calls you up to remind you to pay their bill – in my case probably credit card, and they say, ‘Before we continue, could you please verify your name, date of birth, yada yada’. I always apologise for the late payment, tell them I’m not going to give them my private details and advise I’ll jump online and pay straight away. Somewhat ironic that we are told time and time again to not give out details and yet they always ask. Throws them in to a spin. I always answer my phone by saying my name, so it’s a pretty good bet that it is actually me!

The reason they ask is because they already have those details up in front of them.

And the reason that it’s a good idea not to simply give away personal details is because Social Engineering is real, and it’s impossible to tell whether the person on the other end of the phone is really from your bank / estate agent / Insurer etc etc, or someone trying to get as much information from you as they can.

There has to come a point where it’s not all about us giving up information to verify our identity – the people calling us will also have to prove they are who they say they are.

c_c™ said :

Madam Cholet said :

This reminds me of when a company calls you up to remind you to pay their bill – in my case probably credit card, and they say, ‘Before we continue, could you please verify your name, date of birth, yada yada’. I always apologise for the late payment, tell them I’m not going to give them my private details and advise I’ll jump online and pay straight away. Somewhat ironic that we are told time and time again to not give out details and yet they always ask. Throws them in to a spin. I always answer my phone by saying my name, so it’s a pretty good bet that it is actually me!

The reason they ask is because they already have those details up in front of them.

Assuming they are who they say you are, and not scammers themselves.
Think of a company like Transact with an area monopoly ringing up to speak to the account holder about their Transact bill….anyone could get the suburbs list of phone numbers and blanket call the lot. Ask enough people and somebody will give them their bank details.

We had one at my previous residence where the cable company would coldcall customers to try and sell you things, but they could only speak to the account holder. The first thing they did was ask the customer for their secret password so they knew they were speaking to the person who had control of the account ! You couldn’t make it up, customers were just telling them to P off and hanging up on them.
It ended up with a few savvy customers asking the company to set up their own secret password and send it by post so the customer could then ask them to quote said password before they’d give any personal details over the phone.

JC said :

Welcome to 2013 unfortunately. We live in a world where a very small minority does the wrong thing and the rest of us get inconvenienced as a result.

One ood example being pre-pay on petrol pumps in certain locations after a given time. Really the same issue, maybe 1 in 200 “forget to pay” but as a result the rest of us pay through inconvenience, no matter who minor.

Though must admit I was surprised to see the Woolworths/Caltex in Kambah have that magic time set to 8pm, a tad early I would have thought.

I see these signs everywhere, but have yet to experience it being enforced.

I rather liked the pumps that you could pay by credit card without going inside, but they disappeared several years ago. The one I used to use was always unreliable, but when it worked it was great – so much quicker. But I guess they weren’t selling as many soft drinks, pies and chocolate…They’d rather take the risk of drive-aways…

IP

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd4:49 pm 01 Apr 13

Don’t know peeps are freaking out.

Madam Cholet said :

This reminds me of when a company calls you up to remind you to pay their bill – in my case probably credit card, and they say, ‘Before we continue, could you please verify your name, date of birth, yada yada’. I always apologise for the late payment, tell them I’m not going to give them my private details and advise I’ll jump online and pay straight away. Somewhat ironic that we are told time and time again to not give out details and yet they always ask. Throws them in to a spin. I always answer my phone by saying my name, so it’s a pretty good bet that it is actually me!

The reason they ask is because they already have those details up in front of them.

JB hifi does the same thing when you personally pick up your own goods ordered online. I don’t mind them inspecting a drivers license, but i do mind having them take a photocopy.

Take your money elsewhere.

Madam Cholet1:48 pm 01 Apr 13

This reminds me of when a company calls you up to remind you to pay their bill – in my case probably credit card, and they say, ‘Before we continue, could you please verify your name, date of birth, yada yada’. I always apologise for the late payment, tell them I’m not going to give them my private details and advise I’ll jump online and pay straight away. Somewhat ironic that we are told time and time again to not give out details and yet they always ask. Throws them in to a spin. I always answer my phone by saying my name, so it’s a pretty good bet that it is actually me!

No, I wouldn’t give a printed/faxed/emailed copy of both sides of my credit card to anyone. I’ll key the information from the front plus the verification number on the back into a website or give it over the phone for a real time transaction, but for a supplier to retain that information is likely to be against the payment card industry’s data security standards.

Good move on your part – no way you should provide them with what they asked for.

I’m sympathetic, but they need to find a better way of ensuring the bona fides of the person who picks up the stuff.

Having worked in the travel area of a Government Department we regularly prepay for staff accommodation, usually when they don’t have a work one issued or it’s for a consultant and we’d have to reimburse the money anyway… This also involves sending the hotel a photocopy of the front and back of the credit card used.

However I don’t understand why they have asked for this method regarding another person collecting the goods. Shouldn’t they just do what the post office does.. Ask you to sign something stating ‘Joe Bloggs’ will be collecting my goods.

Welcome to 2013 unfortunately. We live in a world where a very small minority does the wrong thing and the rest of us get inconvenienced as a result.

One ood example being pre-pay on petrol pumps in certain locations after a given time. Really the same issue, maybe 1 in 200 “forget to pay” but as a result the rest of us pay through inconvenience, no matter who minor.

Though must admit I was surprised to see the Woolworths/Caltex in Kambah have that magic time set to 8pm, a tad early I would have thought.

Affirmative Action Man8:39 am 01 Apr 13

Why would you be paying for the stove anyway ? If you are renting this would be the owners responsibility.

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