Telephone Scam
Complaint
Marti Detweiler
Country: United States
My husband called the number on the back of our card to redeem our reward points with our credit card company.
When he told the person who answered why he was calling, the man
said that he first wanted to offer him a $200 voucher for gasoline and it
would only cost $2.99. At first my husband agreed and then started
becoming suspicious. My husband said he just wanted to redeem his points and the scammer said of course, we can do that after we get your voucher. Remember he called the credit card company and so assumed everything was legitimate. All along this scammer implied that he was connected to Chase Bank Card Services. Apparently this phone call was hijacked. After my husband hung up, they kept calling back. I finally was told the company's name was Central Rewards. I asked how they could answer our call to our credit card company. He said it was because of a credit purchase we had made. How did they get that information?
I immediately called the credit card company back and cancelled our
card. The crooks had already charged $1.00 magazine subscription but the at our request the company denied payment. The person from our company said that it was a test to see if the charge would be honored. Of course, it wasn't Now they are calling and threatening us. I have
talked to the people in the credit card fraud dept. and they are investigating. I have also contacted the comsumer protection department with our attorney general's office
I never dreamed we could be fooled- but they intercepted our legitimate
phone call.
When he told the person who answered why he was calling, the man
said that he first wanted to offer him a $200 voucher for gasoline and it
would only cost $2.99. At first my husband agreed and then started
becoming suspicious. My husband said he just wanted to redeem his points and the scammer said of course, we can do that after we get your voucher. Remember he called the credit card company and so assumed everything was legitimate. All along this scammer implied that he was connected to Chase Bank Card Services. Apparently this phone call was hijacked. After my husband hung up, they kept calling back. I finally was told the company's name was Central Rewards. I asked how they could answer our call to our credit card company. He said it was because of a credit purchase we had made. How did they get that information?
I immediately called the credit card company back and cancelled our
card. The crooks had already charged $1.00 magazine subscription but the at our request the company denied payment. The person from our company said that it was a test to see if the charge would be honored. Of course, it wasn't Now they are calling and threatening us. I have
talked to the people in the credit card fraud dept. and they are investigating. I have also contacted the comsumer protection department with our attorney general's office
I never dreamed we could be fooled- but they intercepted our legitimate
phone call.
Comments
This "gas voucher" scam normally engages in fraudulent telemarketing of these "gas vouchers" which due to the terms are virtually worthless, if you can even get anything out of them. The scheme is set up to ensure that their monthly charges will exceed whatever you might think you could get for "gas rebates", and then they put barriers in the way of actually getting any "rebate". Although they have some allegedly U.S. based website, their call center may be overseas, in India or Pakistan.
Other complaints have reported that they may deceptively pretend to be associated with your credit card company, but this is the first I have heard of reaching them when directly calling a bank.
It sounds like they have obtained 800 numbers similar to large bank customer service numbers, maybe one digit off, and are using them when consumers mistakenly call their bank but make an error.
The only other possibility is if your bank is using an overseas call center that is also engaged in this scam. That would be an issue for your bank to investigate.
Similar fraudulent 800 number schemes appeared several years ago in connection with "services" to "help you call long distance numbers", using numbers similar to the calling card access numbers for ATT, Verizon, and similar large telecoms. The scammers then charged consumers inflated "connection fees" for the long distance calls they thought were going directly through their phone company. FTC went after them and shut off that scam.
It is clear from how they pretended to be associated with "Chase" that this is no mistake.
Please contact FTC to report this "hijacked call" fraudulent telemarketing scheme. In addition, file a complaint at www.ic3.gov
Also contact BBB so they can add an explicit warning against the company, as consumer protection agencies often check BBB reports when investigating consumer complaints.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/gfVhBDK9egBw_wjN9wgvCA
These two reports, with similar but distinct deceptive spoofing tactics, indicate that they are focussed on deceiving people into calling them and thinking they have called some other legitimate company.
to pay postage to mail them and Needed my debt card information, so being dumb, I gave it to her, she also wanted to know how offen I went shopping for food, I said once a month, and maybe a few times during the month, she wanted to know If I well off, and if the gift vochers would help right now, after that I called the service deptment number she gave me and asked the women what the name of the company, she hung up on me, then I went on the web and put in Discount consumer rewards and got all the reward on regular card and the one about this scam. called my bank and cancelled my debt card, and asked if any one had tryed to get money out, they said no, I feel like a real FOOL I have never done anything Iike this before, now I know why.
if you get a call from the number at the top know ifs a scam.
I just got a new Discover card in the mail and called the activation number and was somehow rerouted to "Central Rewards." The two people I spoke with had Indian accents. The first guy told me I was one of the first 25 callers and was eligible for a $200 gas voucher that I can use within the next year and a $25 restaurant voucher. They asked for my credit card information, and under the impression that this place was part of Discover, I gave it to them to charge a "$2.99" fee. I was then transferred to the manager who asked me to verify my credit card info again, at which point I was getting very suspicious and asked what company this was, which I quickly looked up online and found this page. I refused to give my credit card information (which she wanted me to speak into an automated line that she was connecting me to. can you be more fishy?). I hung up and she called me back within 2 seconds and their number in caller ID was 000-000-0000. I asked her if she could please cancel my order and she said my card was already charged and if I didn't verify my information again I would be charged another $50. She was trying to scare me into giving her my credit card information again. I had my credit card closed right away.
When I asked the women to repeat herself she would make her voice even more discernible. However, I feel like this [***] scam service already had my credit card information to begin with since 'coincidentally' my confirmation code was the last four digits of my credit card. They were not able to charge me since I questioned the women for ten minutes and when I asked what company she is affiliated with she played the "Hello... I can't hear you" trick and hung up.
Ridiculous, if these thieves steal any of my hard-earned money I will see to it that they are met with the accordance of law for their trespassing.
Alternatively, they may try to pretend they are somehow connected to your credit card company.
If they keep calling back with deceptive calls, it leans toward already having your number, but just trying to get the "right" recording.
You might be wise to have you bank block that card number. Regardless, watch your statements closely.
They are nothing but liars and swindlers.