I received an email from my friend ona recent scam involving Courier, Wine and swiping of Credit card at Home with the delivery boy.
The people lost their money from their accounts.
I checked,this is the result.
Do not accept any packages at all, unless you know the sender, better check with them by phone.
“This email relates an incident in which a couple had $4000 stolen from their credit card account after a fraudster posing as a delivery driver tricked them into swiping their credit card on a portable card skimming device. According to the message, the scammer pretended to be a courier delivering an unexpected gift of wine and flowers. The scammer claimed that, because the gift included alcohol, the company required a small fee to be paid to prove that the gift had been delivered to an adult. He insisted that the fee be paid via card rather than cash and presented what seemed to be a legitimate mobile EFTPOS machine. However, the machine was in fact a skimming device that recorded the victim’s credit card details.
The information in the warning message is true. A spate of such crimes occurred in several suburbs in Sydney’s north-west in late 2008. A November 7 New South Wales Police Media Release noted:
Police in Sydney’s north-west have released an image of a man they believe can assist with inquiries into a fraudulent delivery scam which leaves people robbed of their savings.
A number of people across the Eastwood, Gladesville and Kuring-gai Local Area Commands have told police they believe they are the victim of a manipulative scam which has left their bank accounts wiped clean.
In all instances, police have been told a man has knocked at the door of residential homes dressed as a courier with a bunch of flowers and bottles of wine. The man has then delivered a parcel requiring a signature to confirm the goods have been received.
The man is alleged to have told recipients of the parcel that a delivery fee of $3.50 is required and must be done via EFTPOS. In all instances, those involved have swiped their credit card into a hand-held machine and been given a receipt for their payment.
Since the media release was published, a man has been apprehended and charged in relation to the incidents. A November 23 article in the Sydney Morning Herald notes:
A MAN charged with stealing more than $30,000 by posing as a delivery man bearing wine and flowers was refused bail in court yesterday.
David John Hennessey, 50, was stopped by police on the F3 freeway at Wahroonga, in northern Sydney, on Friday. He was arrested after a police search of his car allegedly found a number of card skimming devices.
Police allege that Hennessey had defrauded 10 residents of the Eastwood-Gladesville and Ku-ring-gai areas of $32,000 by posing as a delivery man bearing wine and flowers.
Source:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/flowers-wine-credit-card-scam.shtml
Email Text as received.
‘Please pass on
“Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone saying that he was
anything) he asked if I was going to be home because there was a package
delivery for me that required a signature . The caller said that the
delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour, and sure enough, about
an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a beautiful basket of
flowers and wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve any special
occasion or holiday, and I certainly didn’t expect anything like it.
Intrigued about who had sent me such a gift, I inquired as to who the sender
was. The deliveryman’s reply was, he was only delivering the gift package,
but allegedly a card was being sent separately… (the card has never
arrived!) There was also a consignment note with the gift.He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there
was a $3.50 “delivery/ verification charge,” providing proof that he had
actually delivered the package to an adult of legal drinking age, and not
just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone,
especially a minor.
This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the
delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so
that everything is properly accounted for, and this would keep help in
keeping a legal record of the transaction. He added couriers not needing to
carry a bunch of cash, would make them less likely targets for robbery.
My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled his wallet out
of his pocket with the credit/debit card, and ‘John,’ the “delivery man,”
asked my husband to swipe his card on a small mobile card machine. It had a
small screen and keypad where Frank was also asked to enter the card’s PIN
and security number. A receipt was printed out and given to us as our copy
of the transaction. He then said everything was in order, and wished us good
day.
To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday,
$4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various
ATM machines.
It appeared that somehow the “mobile credit card machine,” which the
deliveryman carried now had all the info necessary to create a “dummy” card
with all our card details after my husband swiped our card and entered the
requested PIN and security number.
Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately
notified the bank which issued us a new card, and our credit/debit account
was closed.
We also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is
definitely a scam because several households had been similarly hit.
WARNING: Be wary of accepting any “surprise gift or package,” which you
neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind
of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never
accept anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper
identification of who the sender is.
Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card
information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction !