In which I almost get scammed out of my mom's credit card info

[salienne]

I was very nearly scammed. As in, giving credit card info away.

So a while ago, I got an e-mail from "B&N.com Credit Card Inquiries" about an order of mine that I'd placed, saying that my credit card didn't go through. They had my order number, how much I'd been charged, etc., and it all looked very legitimate. They also had a number to call where you were supposed to leave your new credit card information. Except the thing was, when you called, no one ever answered. Ever. They had an answering machine message that sounded legitimate and asked you to leave your order information, contact information, and credit card information, though. They said they'd get back to you too!

Um, yeah, NO.

I left my contact information but not the credit card info (thank God), and no one ever got back to me. So finally today--after trying to talk to someone at that number repeatedly (...thank goodness I didn't) and playing "let's try solving this through emailing bn.com cusomter service!"--I called B&N.

The representative said there was nothing wrong with my order and did not recognize the number from the e-mail.

...ALLO THAR SCAM!!!

So, thankfully, I was smart and DIDN'T leave credit card info., though if someone had actually picked up the phone, I might very well have...

So, moral: if the number provided isn't from the official website, call the official number to make absolutely sure you're not being screwed over.

From now on, I am being incredibly cautious.


THE IMPORTANT PART:
So, if anyone gets an email from "B&N.com Credit Card Inquiries" " telling you to call 1-877-411-1862, don't do it. Call the official customer service line first, check, make sure for yourselves, and avoid this thing like maggots and rabid cats and ebola.


And does anyone have any idea what I should do about this? I mean, these people got my e-mail address and order info. somehow. Should I call B&N back and report the scam? Should I just be happy I got away scott-free?

Any ideas?

Comments

Rat 'em out to the Feds

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

Take a look at this link:

http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm

There's another link on that page you can click that allows you to file an "Internet Crime Complaint."

A question

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

When you first placed the order, did BN.com send you a confirmation email?

Re: A question

[salienne.livejournal.com]

In response to this particular question: Yes I did, and I got the thing I ordered too. This e-mail came a while afterward.

And thanks for that website! First, I'm going to contact B&N again, just to make absolutely sure that it is a scam and the rep I talked to didn't just happen to be really, really out of the loop. Then, if (most likely when) that pans out, I'll go to the website you gave and report it. I still have the e-mail, so I can copy/paste that and give them the e-mail address and phone number.

Again, thanks.

Re: A question

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

I believe that solves the mystery about how the suspected scammers obtained details about the order you placed.

Emails are typically relayed through many servers between source and destination. If those emails are not encrypted, it is fairly easy to parse them for order confirmations and log the details to a file.

The other thing that worries me is the bit about you leaving a message with your contact information. It might be difficult for someone to steal your identity with just your name, address, and telephone number, but you might expect to be harassed in the near future by whatever sleazy telemarketing companies the scammers sold that information to.

One other thing

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

Okay, I should have collected all these thoughts together in a single post, but, do you still have the phone number? You might try doing one of those "reverse phone lookups" on InfoSpace to see if it's an offshore phone number.

It could very well be that you're going to get stuck with something like a twenty-five dollar charge for even making the phone call.

In either case, if you decide to make one of those ICC complaints, make sure you put the phone number in it somewhere.

Oh Right

[baddogsprocket.livejournal.com]

It's a toll-free 877 number.

The suggestion that you put the phone number in your Internet Crime Complaint still stands, though.

[(Anonymous)]

I received a similiar email: they knew my email adress, and order number from an order that was processed several months ago. About this time I had changed my credit card because of unathorized charges originating from a place in Utah, and now I wonder if they were phisihing for my new credit card. Interestingly when I linked to the BN.com site, the site said "welcome (my name)" and had my enail adress.I didnt log-in because this seems so suspicious