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Beware of calls from ‘Visa’ phone scammer

I received a call from 120-693-9590. The caller claimed to be from Visa security. He said someone was trying to transfer $600 from my Visa to a Western Union office in Turkey. He said looking at my transaction history he could see that I have never transferred money to Western Union.

I received a call from 120-693-9590. The caller claimed to be from Visa security. He said someone was trying to transfer $600 from my Visa to a Western Union office in Turkey. He said looking at my transaction history he could see that I have never transferred money to Western Union.

He asked if my Visa was in my possession? Was I the only one with a card using my number? What was the last purchase I had made? All legitimate questions that Visa would ask.

I got suspicious when he asked what my last purchase was. If he was Visa he would know that. Then he asked if I would read off my Visa number to make sure he was speaking to the correct person. I said that you called me so you should have my Visa number.

I asked his name, he said it was Brian Cole. I told him I would contact Visa myself to verify what was going on. He said OK, that was not a problem, but in the meantime he would cancel my card so no more charges would go through.

I phoned Visa and of course there was no problem with my card and I was informed that this was a scam. This call was very scary as I had had my card compromised once before, and the questions the caller was asking were the questions that Visa would ask. He sounded like the real thing.

Beware — this is a scam. Check the phone number on the web and it verifies the number is from a call centre and they use the same patter each time.

June Parkinson

Parksville