Scam Warning

Scammers on the prowl! I have recently been reading a book on credit card hackers & scammers. The book has been very informative. You may be surprised to realize that some of the masterminds behind these scams have become multi-millionaires!  So it makes sense for them to invest a considerable amount of time and effort to get a highly qualified team together to come up with elaborate scams to fleece you of your hard earned cash.

With over 14 years in the car business I thought I was pretty switched on to the risks in business and being cautious. I realized on Monday even the most cautious can be stung! On my way to the coast for a meeting I pulled into a servo to fill up when much to my surprise and embarrassment my credit card declined. With not much time to spare I assumed a bank glitch and all would be sorted with a phone call later in the day.

I was even more surprised to find that when I check my messages the bank had been trying to ring. They have a very thorough fraud detection team but by the time the bank realized something was up I had been relieved of $3,500. My card was suspended and after a phone call was cancelled immediately.

It would seem that even though I had been careful, my credit card details had been accessed by a hacker and probably stolen from one of the many merchants I have used throughout the month. Credit card details sometimes get stored on stores data bases and some dodgy operators may not have up to date security measures. So how my card details got into the wrong hands, remains a mystery.

 I have also read today that our fascination and intrigue with the missing plane has opened up a flood gate to the latest scam. Fake stories on social media sites are claiming to have found the missing plane are having curious individuals opening the link only to expose themselves to dangerous malware infected by the link!! Anyone whose computer doesn't have up to date anti-virus and malware software could fall victim.

What should you do? Well I’m no computer genius but I would suggest you make sure your protection is up to date and make sure you have a good firewall in place. Also if it seems sus then it probably is.

Let’s hope the plane is found and all the families involved can then know what’s happened. But take note these scams will continue with the next disaster or big news story.