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BEWARE - VERY SOPHISTICATED WAY TO CHEAT YOU + Gift card
Dear ALL
This happened to our friend who lives in North Vancouver, thought to let you all know . Especially now that it is near to Christmas so getting gift is not uncommon.
Subject: BEWARE - VERY SOPHISTICATED WAY TO CHEAT YOU
Hi everyone,
I want to let you all know that Frank and I have been the victims of
credit card fraud this week and felt I should warn you all about the
clever scam. It works like this:
Last Wednesday I had a phone call late morning from Express Couriers to
ask if I was going to be home as he had a delivery for me. He said he
would there in roughly an hour. He turned up with a beautiful basket of
flowers and wine. I expressed my surprise as I wasn't expecting anything
like this and said I was intrigued to know who was sending me such a
lovely gift. He said he was only delivering the gift and the card was
being sent separately (the card has never arrived). There was a
consignment note with the gift.
He went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol he has to
charge the recipient $3.50 as proof that he has actually delivered to an
adult, and not left it on a door step if the recipient is out, to be
stolen or taken by children. This seemed logical and I offered to get
the cash. He then said that the company required the payment to be by
Eftpos so he's not handling cash and everything is properly accounted
for. Frank was there and got his credit card and 'John' swiped the card
on this small mobile machine that also had a small screen upon which
Frank entered in his pin number. A receipt was printed out and given to
us.
Between last Thursday and Monday $4,000 was withdrawn from our credit
account at ATM machines in the north shore area. It appears a dummy
credit card was made using the details in the machine and of course,
they had Frank's pin number.
The Bank has stopped our cards and I've been to the Police this morning,
where they confirmed that it is a definite scam and many households were
hit during the first 3 days of October.
So PLEASE be wary of accepting a gift you're not expecting especially if
the card is not with it. We've all received gifts like this and would
never dream that it could be such a despicable act. Please also let
other female friends and relatives know. Hopefully, these fraudsters
have ceased this activity by now but you never know. I wanted to warn
all my friends.
Heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankrupcy Planning). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.
Circuit City filed Chapter 11 Old Radio Shack and now The Source
Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear closing all stores (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley closing all stores
Pep Boys closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Lowes to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores |
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