605. Should I give my credit-card number over the phone?
Description
This article is from the Credit cards and Consumer Credit FAQ, by adams@spss.com (Steve Adams) with numerous contributions by others.
605. Should I give my credit-card number over the phone?
One big question is: did you call them or did they call you? You
should never give your credit-card number to anyone who calls you.
Such a call is almost certainly a scam. This is true even if
(especially if) the caller claims to be from your card issuer.
Anyone from the issuer who legitimately has your phone number also
has the rest of your records, including your card number.
If you're making a call in response to a postcard from some company
you never heard of, be very wary. There have been a lot of frauds
reported where the victim gave a credit-card number and found lots
of unauthorized charges on the next month's bill. I'm sure that
some of these "you've won a free trip, just give us your card number
for the $149 processing fee" offers are legitimate: but how can you
tell over the phone?
Even when you place the call, to a bona fide merchant (such as a mail
order company) never give your credit card out over a portable phone.
Scanners that snoop on these conversations are available for a few
hundred dollars at Radio Shack, and your voice can be received by one
for a far greater distance than the maximum useful range of your
cordless phone. Often these lines are monitored to obtain your credit
card, or your vacation plans. (How do they know which house it is?
They listen so often, they probably know your voice!)
Of course, if you're calling an established mail-order company,
giving them your card number is as safe as anything is these days!
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