May 1, 2009
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News: Braintree, MA Customers Scammed
The Braintree, MA, Police Department recently reported a credit card information theft on one customer of the Braintree Tufankjian Toyota dealership and an attempt on another. A representatives of the dealership notified police that they had received complaints from two customers who claimed they received a call from one of its employees seeking their credit card information. The complaints were received on April 30th just two days after both customers had received services on their vehicles at the dealership. Both customers notified the Tufankjian Toyota dealership that they had received a phone call from an individual identifying himself as an employee of the dealership claiming there was a problem with the company’s credit card machine. The caller told both customers that they would need to verify their card information to rectify the problem.
One of the customers, who had given the caller the credit card information, later noticed an unauthorized airline ticket charge on his account. The second customer became suspicious and hung-up on the caller; she did not give the caller her credit card information. She did, however, say that the caller-id indicated the call was from the Tufankjian Toyota dealership. The dealership does not believe an employee made the calls, but police do not know how the Tufankjian caller ID appeared on the customer’s phone.
The Braintree Police Department is continuing their investigation into the incidents. Police say the dealership is working with them to find out who is making the calls. Tufankjian has posted signs in their service area warning customers not to give out their credit card information over the phone. Meanwhile, they advise all individuals to refrain from ever giving their credit information out over the phone to individuals they are not acquainted with. It is not known if any other attempts to fraud other customers have been made.