December 30, 2009
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News: Phishers Target Twin Cities Auto Dealers
Residents of the Twin Cities discovered the hard way that caller ID isn't as reliable as it once was. Thieves have been deceiving credit card holders into believing they are representatives of local automobile dealers and luring them into revealing their credit card information. Caller ID lists the incoming call as coming from the dealerships. The scam actually begins with the thief calling the auto dealership where a consumer had just completed credit card payment transaction. He, the thief, calls the auto dealership posing as a representative of the card company stating that the most recent transaction did not go through correctly and they need the customer's phone number and last four digits of the card.
The thief uses the phone number to contact the credit card holder posing as an employee of the automobile dealership. Again, the caller ID is rigged to reflect the name of the dealership. The thief tells the customer there was a problem processing the card payment and attempts to finagle the complete credit card number out of them. Since the customer has recently done business with the dealership, they don't suspect any that the caller on the other end is really a thief. According to the Minnesota Better Business Bureau (BBB), the scam has been limited to automobile dealerships; however, fear that the thieves will soon target other businesses.
Three automobile dealers have been victimized by the credit card scam. All Minnesota auto dealers have been notified of the scam. Scott Lambert, Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association said the organization notified all the dealers and the BBB warning them to be aware of any calls from individuals claiming to be representatives of a card company. The exact amount of fraudulent activities has not yet been determined; however it has been reported that one thieves racked up nearly $4,000 on just one of the stolen cards.