Finance expert warns of scammer's tactic to defraud your credit card account

Q: Liam, I received a call yesterday from someone claiming to be from my credit card company, saying there was a suspicious transaction on my account. I had closed my account six months ago, so I knew it was a scam call, so I just hung up, but I wanted to let you and your readers know just in case others receive the same type of call.

A. First off, thank you for bringing this to our attention. I had a similar call myself last week. I received an automated message saying there was a transaction on my visa card in the last 15 minutes, in the amount of €600 and they wanted me to verify that it was correct.

And I had to do so by pressing 1 on my phone, and that would take me through to a customer representative, who is actually a criminal, who will try get information from me about my account i.e. card number, expiration date, credit limit, CVV number etc. or ask me to make a payment (to them).

Criminals make up fake situations in order to get a reaction out of you, so you’ll give up information to them and that’s what’s happening here. If you ever receive a call like this and you’re not sure if it’s legitimate or not, don’t follow any instructions you’ve been given.

Hang up and call your bank though it’s official contact numbers and check with them if it was them who was trying to call you or not.